Iraq: Yazidi survivors mark 7th anniv of IS atrocities in Sinjar

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Yazidi survivors staged a protest in Sinjar on Tuesday, seven years after militants from the so-called Islamic State (IS; formerly ISIS/ISIL) ravaged the town, killing thousands of men and forcing women into sex slavery.

“Today seven years ago a very big holocaust against Yazidi of Sinjar began. We demand our rights from the international community,” said one Sinjar resident, “We demand these kids be granted their rights. There are thousands of them who don’t know what happened to their parents to this day.”

“More than a thousand girls vanished without a trace. Nobody knows where they went,” he added, “There are 80 mass graves and neither the local or the federal government nor the international community did anything to the bodies of the victims in these graves.”

Victim’s families and survivors mourned their loved ones and demanded recognition for the victims, urging the government to properly rebury remains currently in a mass grave.

“The mass graves are still untouched. The remains were not examined yet,” said Hala Turki, a victim’s relative who attended the protest, “It’s seven years now and the mass graves of thousands of Yazidis and their identities are still unknown.”

“Many countries have recognised the Yazidi genocide too but we don’t see respect and proper recognition from the local and federal government. They still didn’t recognise the Yazidi genocide and they don’t respect us,” Turki added.

Human rights groups say nearly 2,600 Yazidi women and girls are still missing, with approximately 200,000 Yazidis still displaced across northern Iraq, many of them living in overcrowded camps.

In March, Iraq’s parliament passed the Yazidi Female Survivors Law, recognising the IS campaign against Yazidis as genocide. The law requires the government to compensate Yazidi survivors. Multiple UN bodies have also recognised the atrocities as genocide, as has the European Parliament, and several national parliaments.

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SOT, Salawa Kalaf, Survivor (Arabic): “Actually what I have seen is so terrible that nobody will believe it. The raping, the torture, the humiliating, the beating. Nobody will believe it as we describe it.”

SOT, Salawa Kalaf, Survivor (Arabic): “We still haven’t been granted any rights, they talk about the surviving victims act of parliament but not yet, nothing on the ground yet, it’s just empty talks, nothing was done in reality, no steps were taken.”

SOT, Shiah Kdaida, Local resident (Arabic): “Today seven years ago a very big genocide against the Yazidis of Sinjar began. We demand our rights from the international community. We demand the rights of Yazidis and we propose the commemoration of the genocide. We demand these kids be granted their rights. There are thousands of them who don’t know what happened to their parents to this day. More than a thousand girls vanished without a trace. Nobody knows where they went. There are 80 mass graves and neither the local or the federal government nor the international community did anything to the bodies of the victims in these graves.”

SOT, Hala Turki, Victim’s relative (Arabic): “The mass graves are still untouched. The remains were not examined yet. Add to that the flooding and rain over the years or remains burned and charred by the sun. It’s seven years now and the mass graves of thousands of Yazidis and their identities are still unknown, they said that ISIS influence has vanished but their creed goes on. Many countries have recognised the Yazidi genocide too but we don’t see respect and proper recognition from the local and federal government. They still didn’t recognise the Yazidi genocide and they don’t respect us. The remains of our beloved are in mass graves.”

#Iraq #Sinjar #Yazidi

Video ID: 20210803-032

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