Elderly Yazidi captured on home arrival
Mercenaries of the so-called Hamza Brigade stationed at the village of Kafr Zeit in the Jinderse District captured Yazidi man Hesen Kalo, 70, upon his arrival to his village some 20 days ago. Putting a 5000 USD ransom for his release and residing in his own village.
Kalo was living in the Shahba Canton before being caught in the calls made by the Kurdish National Council, the ENKS, calling on Afrin IDPs to return home though crimes are very common in the Afrin under Turkish and mercenary occupation.
Find the 3,000 missing women and children
Campaigners demand action from world leaders to find 3,000 missing Yazidi women and children
More than 80 organisations and individuals have launched a campaign calling for world leaders to take “decisive action” to find nearly 3,000 missing Yazidi women and children.
Around 3,000 that were captured by ISIS and sold into sexual slavery as they carried out a genocide in the Shengal region of northern Iraq have never been found.
A joint letter to the United Nations General Assembly which opened for its 76th session on Tuesday calls for the international community to take measures to secure their safe return.
“We have a moral imperative to offer whatever leadership and support we can to end this horrific situation,” the signatories said.
The NGOs and individuals, including Baroness Helena Kennedy and British parliamentarians, said that it is “a travesty that the Yazidi women and children remain missing and their fate unknown” seven years after they were kidnapped.
“Despite findings of genocide and repeated pronouncements expressing concern for Yazidis, the international community has failed to organise any effort to locate these kidnapped individuals,” the letter continued.
As mass graves continue to be discovered, campaigners called on delegates at the UN to work together with governments and other bodies to locate those still alive and provide closure to the families of those murdered, allowing for their loved ones to have a dignified burial.
“Now is the time to put words into action. While Yazidis face many challenges, organising a search for abducted women and children is tangible, workable, achievable and long overdue.
“We call upon you to demonstrate the moral leadership and courage necessary to push global action in the face of genocide,” the letter concluded.
The Yazidi people were targeted in August 2013 as ISIS swept to power across large swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
Many fled to Mount Sinjar and were held under siege, short of food, water and basic supplies while thousands were slaughtered or sold into sexual slavery.
Turkey has been accused of hindering efforts for the return of the Yazidi people to their homeland, conducting frequent air raids on the region.
Last month it bombed a busy marketplace in Shengal, killing a Yazidi official who was heading to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Khadimi.
Days later it targeted a hospital killing eight people, including four health workers.
Missing Yazidis Women And ChildrenMust Be Rescued
On September 14, 2021, and as the 76th session of the U.N. General Assembly was opening, close to a hundred organizations and experts, in a joint letter, called upon several world leaders to ensure the missing Yazidi women and children are located and reunited with their families. It has been more than seven years and their fate remains unknown
SYRIA-CONFLICT-YAZIDI
In August 2014, Daesh (also known as ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State) unleashed a genocidal campaign against Yazidis, Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq. Among the atrocities, they abducted and enslaved thousands of women and children, including for sex trafficking and sex slavery. Daesh further committed murder, enslavement, deportation and forcible transfer of population, imprisonment, torture, exploitation, abuse, forced marriage and much more. The atrocities have been recognized by a few governments and several parliaments as crimes against humanity, war crimes and even genocide, the crime of crimes.
Seven years after Daesh abducted them from Sinjar, Iraq, about 3,000 Yazidi women and children are still missing. Despite this significant lapse of time, no real effort has been made to locate them, and if alive, ensure that they are rescued and reunited with their families.
The recent joint letter calls upon world leaders to work with partners to conduct an official search to identify the whereabouts of the missing women and children, including in the Al-Hol camp in Syria where many are believed to be held; work with local partners to free all Yazidi women and children who are alive and ensure that the remains of those killed are returned to their families and given a dignified and honorable burial. Seven years after the atrocities, these actions are long overdue but urgently needed.
Knox Thames, former U.S. Special Advisor for Religious Minorities at the State Department, and co-author of the letter said: “Seven years have passed, but the international community still has not organized a search for the 3,000 missing Yazidi women and children. Without action, words of support for the kidnapped Yazidis ring hollow.
It's time the international community got serious about locating the missing Yazidi women and children kidnapped by Daesh.” Pari Ibrahim, Founder and Executive Director of the Free Yezidi Foundation, and co-author of the letter, said: “Nothing is more agonizing and frustrating to the Yezidi community than waiting and wondering about the missing. We are realistic, and we know that not every missing Yezidi is still alive.
For those who are still suffering slavery and abuse every day, the international community must make a serious, coordinated rescue effort. We are calling for an ‘Amber Alert’ for our missing Yezidis.” Abid Shamdeen, Executive Director of Nadia's Initiative, co-author of the letter, commented: “The Yazidi community has been calling for the search and rescue of nearly 3,000 women and children who are still missing and in captivity.
Their calls have been met with silence from the governments of Baghdad and Erbil and the international community for over seven years. The longer we wait to create a joint task force to search for those missing, the more we signal to these Yazidi women and children that their wellbeing does not matter.”
Seven years after the abductions and enforced disappearances, it is time to act and bring back the women and children. We cannot ensure justice for the Yazidis without finding the missing women and children. If alive, they continue to be subjected to horrific atrocities that need to be put to an end.
The world may have moved on from the Daesh atrocities but these women and children continue to live them every day. This Daesh genocide will continue until the women and children are located and rescued. If they were killed, their families deserve to know what happened to them. They will not be able to move on with their lives if they continue waiting for their return that is not coming.
Locating and rescuing the missing Yazidi women and children is not only a crucial step in the response to the Daesh atrocities; it is a humane response.
People of Shengal take to streets
The Yazidi town of Shengal (Sinjar) in Southern Kurdistan has been witnessing military activity by the armed forces of the KDP and the Iraqi army since early this morning. Residents took to the streets in several locations across the town in the face of military activity and reports are coming through of an extraordinary situation in Shengal
Reports from the ground say that a large number of KDP and Iraqi troops have been deployed on the roads leading to the Yazidi settlement. The KDP is said to be seeking to implement the Shengal Agreement on the pretext of the upcoming elections.
KDP forces were deployed at checkpoints between Shengal and the regions of Rabia and Zakho as well as other regions in Kurdistan Region.
People of Shengal have gathered at all roads and checkpoints and built barricades against the military forces of the KDP to prevent an imminent action. Masses have also gathered outside the centers of the public security forces (Asayish) in Guhbel and Borik. The people, the majority of them being women, have started sit-in protests on the main streets to prevent the movement of the military forces.
According to reports, the KDP is preparing its military forces to enter Shengal, while Iraqi forces have been stationed in several locations in the town. Residents of the Yazidi settlement have gathered on the main streets, at checkpoints and local councils, voicing their reaction against the KDP and the Iraqi army.
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