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Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sun Dec 19, 2021 1:09 am

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After tragedy, new freedoms

Historically Iraq's Yazidi community was isolated, under-resourced and very conservative. Seven years after the "Islamic State" tragedy, the community is more open to the world — and Yazidi women are benefiting

"We really appreciate your visit," Luqman Suleiman told a group of tourists from around Iraq and Germany recently, when he met them at the entrance of the Yazidi temple, Lalish. For the ethno-religious Iraqi minority this site in northern Iraq is the equivalent of the Vatican to Catholics, or Mecca to Muslims. Every Yazidi is expected to come here at least once in their lifetime. And these days, more outsiders are coming here too.

"It is really so important that people come here and listen to the Yazidis," Suleiman, a spokesperson and guide at the temple, said. "You shouldn't listen to other people. They may speak falsely about us."

Suleiman was talking about long-standing prejudices against his community in Iraq. Their highly secretive and ritualistic religion — traditions and rules are passed on orally and outsiders are prohibited from knowing most of them — has made the minority a target of the Muslim majority in the country.

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A stall inside the entrance to the Lalish temple in northern Iraq, selling souvenirs to a group of visitors from Iraq and Europe

The Yazidi faith has been described as "dualist" because they believe that good and evil are part of the same divinity. This is also why some Iraqis have described them as "devil worshippers" and, for example, won't eat any food prepared by Yazidi hands.

It is the same sort of prejudice that made the small religious community, which is thought to number around half a million inside Iraq, a target for the extremist group known as the "Islamic State (IS)." As the extremists took over swathes of the country in 2014, the minority's marginal status was part of the reason why the IS militants felt they could kill, rape and enslave thousands of members of the community with impunity.

Unexpected outcomes

The Yazidi minority was forever changed by the IS group's brutal assault on them. By the time the extremists were more or less pushed out of northern Iraq in 2017, thousands of Yazidis had been killed or kidnapped. Several international bodies now classify the events as a genocide. Today, around 240,000 are still living in camps for the displaced, many in grinding poverty.

But the community has also changed in some ways that were perhaps not quite so predictable.

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People take photos at temple

"The Yazidi community has transformed toward more openness," said Murad Ismael, head of the Sinjar Academy, an institute in northern Iraq providing education to locals in the area. "The Yazidi community has nothing to hide but I believe, in the past, many thought it was better to not discuss identity or faith. I also think the world today is more passionate and supportive to the Yazidis, which encourages them to be more open."

Newfound freedoms

One noticeable change has come in Yazidi women's rights, Suleiman told his curious visitors.

"Before the IS group came, a woman was not free to leave her village without a male guardian," Suleiman said. "But after the IS time, people have more of an open mind. Women can leave their village and catch a plane to Europe, if they want to," he said, smiling and gesturing at the sky above the hills surrounding the 4,000-year-old temple.

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Girls in displacement camp

Previously Yazidi women had a much lower literacy rate than Yazidi men or local Muslim women

"In the past, the community would not have accepted that," confirmed Naven Symoqi, a Yazidi activist and journalist from Sinjar, the district where many Iraqi Yazidis reside. " But after many Yazidis became displaced, they ended up in different parts of Iraq and they saw different ways of doing things."

That experience, said a local in northern Iraq, who worked with Yazidis in a displaced persons' camp, has had impact. "Imagine if you come from a really isolated agricultural community without many resources, where many people were not educated beyond primary school level. And then you've been displaced, you're in a camp, and there are all these NGOs running programs on education and women's rights," the source told DW. The person requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about the community with which they still work.

Women drivers

Symoqi marvels at the fact there are now driving schools for women in town. She also knows of Yazidi women studying at universities and praises Amera Atto, a Yazidi who competed in 2021's Miss Iraq contest.

Yazidi women involved in local survivor networks are also doing things they never would have before, such as traveling to cities to meet male politicians to discuss justice and compensation.

Because of the murders of their male relatives, many Yazidi women became heads of their own households, pointed out Abid Shamdeen, executive director of Nadia's Initiative.

His nonprofit organization, founded by Nadia Murad, a Yazidi survivor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has been able to help Yazidi women set up their own small businesses, rebuild homes and access education. "We have seen that these kinds of projects have a profoundly positive impact on Yazidi women," Shamdeen told DW. "After IS' destruction, Yazidi women have very much taken the lead in advocating on behalf of their community, both locally and globally."

Yazidi women are also benefiting from better access to education and job opportunities, the Sinjar Academy's Ismael added. "There are more women employed and some even own small businesses or lead NGOs. This is really something new to the Yazidis of Iraq."

Underage marriage

Despite it's awful origins, this new attitude could be seen as a positive development. The Yazidi religion has strict rules. You cannot convert into it, nor can you leave it. Adherents may not even marry out of their own caste within the community, let alone outside of the religion.

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Yazidi women sit on a wall outside the Temple of Lalish

Previously many Yazidi women were not able to travel independently without being harshly judged

In one high-profile case from 2007, Dua Khalil Aswad, a young Yazidi woman, who was thought to have converted to Islam for love was beaten to death in public, including by members of her own family.

In 2011, after a growing number of suicides among young Yazidi females, researchers from the International Organization for Migration conducted community interviews to find out why this was happening. They concluded "the marginalization of women and the view of the woman's role as peripheral" were to blame, alongside isolation, unhappy arranged marriages, unemployment among females and community and sectarian tensions.

More to come

Still, community members told DW that, despite recent changes, much remains to be done.

For one thing, the former camps worker explained, there's still a big difference between the way Yazidi survivors and other women in the community are treated.

A woman mourns by a grave during a mass funeral for Yazidi victims of the Islamic State group whose remains were found in a mass grave, in the northern Iraqi village of Kojo.

In early December, Yazidis held a ceremony to bury 41 community members killed by the IS group

"Some are welcomed back by their families, others are not. Although the community doesn't like to talk about it like this, it's a bit of a disaster," the source said. "And all this [the new rights Yazidi women have] is still only possible with the permission of male family members. It's still deeply patriarchal here. Then again," they concluded, " these things take time. And once people are given opportunities, it's very hard to take them away again."

"Definitely there is still some social friction," Ismael agreed. "It will take time and education," he argued. "But I think in many ways Yazidi women led by example, during and after the genocide. [They] were at the forefront of everything that happened and in many ways became symbols of the people."

https://www.dw.com/en/new-freedoms-yazi ... a-60130898
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Dec 20, 2021 11:47 pm

Turkish Attacks

Yazidi leaders urge world to prevent genocide at hands of Turkey

YAZIDI politician Merwan Bedel was killed by Turkey as revenge for the defeat of ISIS in Shengal, co-chair of the regions autonomous administration Rihem Hesen has told the Morning Star.

She accused Turkey of continuing where the jihadists had left off, slamming the international community for its silence over another attempted genocide of the Yazidis.

Speaking exclusively to the Star, the Yazidi leader said that Turkey had declared a war on her people with the deliberate bombing of political institutions and the extrajudicial execution of elected officials.

Mr Bedel was killed when the car he was travelling in with his two young children was struck in a missile attack close to a school in Shengal.

Local media attempted to justify the bombing by claiming he was a military commander with the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a role he relinquished in the summer when he was elected as co-chairman of the regional autonomous administration.

He played a leading role in the resistance as Isis took control of Shengal in 2014, massacring thousands of Yazidi men and boys and selling thousands of women and girls into sexual slavery, many of whom remain missing.

Mr Bedel helped organise the Yazidis as they fled to the Sinjar mountains where they were held under siege by Isis until their eventual liberation by the Kurdistan Workers Party.

Turkey has intensified its attacks on Shengal where it has been accused of a string of war crimes and preventing the return of thousands of displaced Yazidis.

YBS commander Seid Hesen was killed after his convoy was struck while on his way to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Khadimi in August.

Just days later eight people, including four health workers, were killed in Turkish air strikes on a hospital in Shengal.

But despite this, the United Nations and the international community have remained silent, with Ms Hesen saying this makes them complicit with Turkey’s genocidal attacks.

“Why are people like Marwan Bedel, Seid Hesen and Zerdest Sengali targeted by the Turkish state? Of course this is Isis’s revenge,” she said.

She was adamant that Turkey would not extinguish the Yazidi goal of “a free and independent Sinjar” and said her people “will never back down.”

“Achieving the rights of our people, which is also the autonomy of Sinjar, is our aim,” Ms Hesen said.

“Whatever the cost, we will continue to follow in the footsteps of our martyrs who gave their lives on the path to autonomous Sinjar.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article ... nds-turkey
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Dec 24, 2021 1:30 am

Young Yazidi survivor shares her story

Sipan Khalil was just 13-years-old when she separated from her family and kidnapped by Islamic State in 2014

The young Yazidi shares her incredible story of survival and is hopeful for her future


phpBB [video]


Direct Link if Video not showing above:

https://youtu.be/5RgJjmcfXpQ
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Jan 06, 2022 4:24 am

Legal Landscape Is Changing

War crimes, genocide, torture, forced disappearances, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international law have been characteristic of conflicts in the Arab world since even before they were codified in law. These crimes still occur in many Arab countries, most notably in Syria and Yemen. Not only do perpetrators often go unpunished, but they also find themselves rewarded and promoted.

So, when on November 30, 2021, a court in Frankfurt, Germany, handed down a life sentence to an Iraqi man who joined the Islamic State (IS) group for genocide against the Yazidi minority — the first time a former member of IS had been convicted of genocide and the first verdict for genocide against Yazidis — it was celebrated as a landmark case in the fight for justice and accountability. Taha al-Jumailly was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity resulting in death, war crimes, aiding and abetting war crimes, and bodily harm resulting in death.

“Today, ISIS member Taha AJ was convicted of genocide and sentenced to life in prison. This is the first genocide verdict against an ISIS member. This verdict is a win for survivors of genocide, survivors of sexual violence, & the Yazidi community,” tweeted Nadia Murad, a 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner and a Yazidi survivor of ISIS enslavement.

Universal Jurisdiction

The trial was also the first in Germany based on the principle of universal jurisdiction addressing crimes under international law committed abroad by a perpetrator who is not a German citizen and was only extradited to on the basis of an international arrest warrant. Universal jurisdiction is the principle that some crimes are so serious that states should be allowed to claim jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where they were committed or any other relation with the prosecuting entity. None of the crimes in the Jumailly case were committed in Germany, and neither the victims nor the suspect were German nationals.

Though universal jurisdiction has been practiced in just a few countries in recent years, it has become an increasingly important tool for achieving accountability and justice for the survivors and victims of international crimes. Hundreds of investigations are ongoing and dozens of convictions have been obtained.

The blossoming of universal jurisdiction is attributable to several factors, one of which is that the alternative route to prosecuting international crimes through the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has effectively been closed by geopolitics. The Syrian conflict, for example, has never been appraised by the ICC because Russia backs President Bashar al-Assad.

The Pursuit of Cases

In recent years, there has been a greater capacity and willingness on the part of some domestic authorities to pursue cases involving international crimes, at least in certain circumstances. More and more countries have also passed laws allowing them to conduct the kind of landmark prosecution that took place in Frankfurt. More countries are following the Dutch example in setting up specialized units within the police, prosecution and even immigration services dedicated to identifying perpetrators of international crimes and bringing them to trial.

Another important factor in the power of universal jurisdiction is that victims and their advocates can contribute to investigations and prosecutions, and sometimes even influence the direction they take. In some countries, such as France and Belgium, victims and NGOs can initiate criminal proceedings. Even where this is not possible, victims and their advocates can still drive cases forward in other ways, such as by tracking perpetrators’ movements, sharing information with the authorities and exerting pressure on them to act.

Dutch authorities have even issued directions for Syrians in the Netherlands on how to file a criminal complaint against other Syrians relating to violations in Syria. In February, after Germany’s top court ruled that war crimes committed abroad can be tried in the country, a court in Koblenz became the first court outside of Syria to rule on state-sponsored torture by the Assad regime when it sentenced a former member of the secret police to four and a half years in prison for being an accomplice to crimes against humanity. Another former Syrian intelligence officer is currently on trial in Germany for overseeing 58 counts of murder and at least 4,000 cases of torture, rape or sexual abuse.

Many Challenges

Despite this recent progress, enormous legal, evidentiary and logistical challenges remain before international criminal cases can be brought to trial. Investigating and prosecuting international crimes in domestic courts is not straightforward, especially in a complex conflict such as the Yemen war where crimes have been committed over many years by different actors.

Foreign investigators cannot easily gather evidence on the ground, so they have to rely on the cooperation of different parties to the conflict to build cases. UN bodies like the group of eminent experts, international organizations, local NGOs, and organizations such as Airwars assist with investigations.

Even if evidence linking an individual perpetrator to war crimes can be established, the suspect still has to be apprehended. In some countries practicing universal jurisdiction, those accused of committing war crimes do not need to be within reach of authorities for an investigation to be opened, but they need to be physically brought to court before any trial can take place.

Though international cooperation can be used to apprehend and extradite international pariahs like IS militants, pirates and slave traders, war criminals who are still serving members of Arab regimes are not about to be handed over. Only when they set foot in a country practicing universal jurisdiction — whether for work, vacation, claiming asylum or for any other reason — can they be arrested immediately, providing they do not benefit from immunity.

Jumailly’s conviction “sends a clear message,” said Natia Navrouzov, a lawyer and member of the NGO Yazda, which gathers evidence of crimes committed by IS against the Yazidis. “It doesn’t matter where the crimes were committed and it doesn’t matter where the perpetrators are, thanks to the universal jurisdiction, they can’t hide and will still be put on trial.”

https://www.fairobserver.com/region/eur ... ews-84924/
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Jan 06, 2022 4:34 am

Sabaya Review

ISIS Slaves Rescued - Powerful, Brilliant, Primitive & Daring

One of the best documentaries of 2021 is ‘Sabaya’ which has an element of suspense that keeps you glued to the screen till the end. Documentaries are a great way to learn more about the realities of life. These can be enlightening, engaging, and enraging at the same time.

The documentary narrates the story of courageous individuals who went above the call of duty putting their lives at risk to rescue Yazidi girls from the notorious terrorist group ISIS. The documentary details how activists rescued the slave girls in the heart of war-torn Syria.

About Sabaya

Sabaya is written and directed by HogirHirori whose previous works include the Flickansomräddade mitt liv (2014) and the Deminer (2017).

Hirori is an Iraqi Kurd who had left his hometown in 1999 to live in Sweden. In 2014, he made a Swedish documentary Flickansomräddade mitt liv (The Girl Who Saved My Life)that told the tales of about 1.4 million people affected by ISIS. Later in 2017, he released another documentary in English titled Deminer that tells the story of a Kurdish colonel who disarmed roadside bombs in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The latest documentary by Hirori titled Sabaya is about Yazidi women being freed from the clutches of ISIS in war-torn Syria. The documentary was released in selected theaters on July 30. It was followed by a nationwide release including a digital screening on August 6.

Sabaya boasts of close action that is suspenseful and intriguing for the viewers. The film shows a scene from the point of view of a woman in a veil as she walks through the marketplace. Her identity is concealed only by the veil that covers her entire body except for the eyes and lips.

The documentary is about women belonging to a Kurdish ethnic group called the Yazidis. They are a religious minority situated in a province in Iraq called the Sinjar that was captured by ISIS that is also known by the Arabic word Daesh.

Sabaya Plot

ISIS had kidnapped thousands of non-Muslim girls and forced them to become Muslims. Many were forced to serve as sex slaves for the forces of Daesh. The soldiers were reported to have beaten and raped the women without mercy. These Yazidi women are known as Sabaya, who were kept in al-Hol camp – a Syrian outpost guarded by Daesh soldiers. The camp consisted of temporary tents provided by the UNICEF for children and women in war-torn Syria.

An attempt to rescue the Yazidi women was full of dangers. Many of the women at the camp wore mandated niqabs from top to bottom that obscured their identity. Despite the challenges, a group of activists consisting of males and females determined to free the sex slaves of ISIS.

The documentary shows Mahmud who has committed to carry out the snatch-and-grab mission during the night. He recruits undercover agents to infiltrate the al-Hol camp and find out about the location of the Yazidi sex slaves. Mahmud works with his accomplice ShejkZiyad who had founded the Yazidi Home Center. Both the men form the Home Center as the base of their operation to rescue the Yazidi women held by ISIS.

In one scene, the documentary shows Mahmud trying to get in touch with the infiltrators using his smartphone. The call reportedly drops due to poor cellular service that shows the struggles and difficulties in carrying out the rescue mission.

Understanding Sabaya

Sabaya provides an immersive experience to the viewers. The camera focuses on Mahmud and his accomplices as they try to infiltrate the al-Hol camp in Syria. It shows a desolate desert landscape with men working under the shadow of the night with guns drawn in search of the Yazidi sex slaves.

The film shows the tension and drama by showing the men and women working for Mahmud putting their lives in danger. In one of the encounters, the film shows Daesh women claiming ignorance of Yazidi sex slaves. But the accomplices of Mahmud are able to find the imprisoned women due to their persistent and undaunted efforts.

The risk of death looms as depicted in one scene with Daesh soldiers pursuing Mahmud and Shejh in a truck and opening fire on them. Mahmud who is a balding man with a mustache on his face does not look like a movie hero. But his actions resemble the thrilling scenes of the superhero in Hollywood films in which the protagonist puts his life on the line to rescue damsel(s) in distress.

Sabay depicts Mahmud as an ordinary person who was compelled to carry out the extraordinary. He is shown cooking with his son and chatting with his wife. The script of Mahmud and Shejk are extempore that shows their amazing courage in fighting for a cause.

Hirori shows the duo as they make their way through the al-Hol camp to rescue the Yazidi women. The documentary shows the limited resources that they had to use for the rescue operation. The camera offers a close and personal account of the effort made by Mahmud with his accomplice in rescuing the sex slaves from ISIS.

The film also depicts the trauma that the women rescued from the al-Hol camp had to endure. One of them confesses that she was contemplating suicide. Many had lost their relatives to ISIS and carried a deep emotional scar.

A heartbreaking scene shows the Yazidi tribe rejecting one of the released woman’s children who was a byproduct of Daesh soldiers. The documentary shows how Yazidi Home Center is helping women and children heal from the nightmare they had endured.

Conclusion

The intimacy of Sabaya elicits sadness and admiration at the same time. It shows the sacrifice of Mahmud and his accomplices as they fight for the freedom of Yazidi sex slaves. They are shown as a hero in the film who accomplishes a great deed putting their lives at risk. The documentary film by Hiroriis another of his creative work that shows the grim reality in the war-torn area ironically known as the Fertile Crescent in ancient times.

If you’re a fan of Middle Eastern cinema, then you’ll definitely want to check out Sabaya, the new film by director Najwa Najjar. The movie is set in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila, and tells the story of two young women who are forced to confront their fates. Sabaya has already been hailed as a powerful drama that offers a unique perspective on the Palestinian experience. So if you’re looking for an emotional roller coaster ride, be sure to check out Sabaya!

https://foxchronicle.com/sabaya-review/
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Jan 07, 2022 2:21 am

Rebuilding from the ashes

The Yazidis left homeless in Sharya camp

SHARYA CAMP, Kurdistan Region — On June 4, Salah Jerdo was resting from the midday heat when he heard neighbours yelling from outside his brother’s tent, one of 4,000 in Sharya camp. Across the room, his six-month-old daughter slept peacefully, oblivious to an inferno outside that would engulf their tent in a matter of minutes.

Just a stone’s throw away, an electrical fault had sparked a fire that blazed through flimsy tent walls, swallowing them up with frightening speed. Salah reached for his daughter, pulling her out of the tent while he took his phone out and began broadcasting to the outside world the scene unfolding in front of him. His home for the past seven years was burning to the ground.

For years, fires have plagued the refugee and internally displaced persons (IDP) camps dotted across the Kurdistan Region, but little action has been taken to safeguard the 36 sites housing more than 270,000 refugees and IDPs.

Sharya camp is home to Yazidis who fled genocide at the hands of the Islamic State group (ISIS). While lip service has been paid to securing their return home, paltry efforts have been done to improve camp conditions. Almost entire families have fallen victim to the flames, leaving camp residents, already paralysed by the conflict and genocide that forced them to flee their homes, living in constant fear of fire.

As the flames spread through Sharya, Salah and several other men ran from tent to tent, pulling children out and shouting at families to get to safety. They raced across the camp, a sprawl of tents so close it is hard to distinguish where one begins and the other ends, trying to keep ahead of the fire that was fuelled by kerosene heaters and a strong wind that would only subside when the blaze was extinguished more than 40 minutes later. The camp fire truck was nowhere to be seen.

A little after 1pm, almost 400 tents had turned to ash when the blaze was finally extinguished after brigades arrived from Duhok and Semele, a 20 minute drive away. In a stroke of incredible luck, and because of the efforts of Salah and other residents, no one died.

Salah, a Peshmerga, has a Facebook page followed by more than 16,000 people where he appeals for aid for widows, orphans and others in need. “I can live in the trees, I can live anywhere… I just want to see people happy and living in dignity,” the 30-year-old said over the phone on the night of the blaze.

Dr Hussein Rasho, a physician, has worked with hundreds of survivors of ISIS captivity and others traumatised by the genocide. A Yazidi himself, he knows the deep wounds his people carry - and the fear that grips the camps.

When news broke about the fire, he took to the road, driving from Shingal to Sharya, where he said the inferno took him back to dark days of August 2014, when ISIS launched a genocide against the long-persecuted Yazidi community. “It’s like August 3,” he said via WhatsApp, sharing photos of scorched earth and belongings abandoned in the hurry to flee.

Driving down the bumpy, unpaved road that winds through the southern edge of the camp two weeks after the fire, the sea of tents gives way to scorched, flattened ground where concrete shelters are being built, approved by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), to house the 240 families who were made homeless by the blaze. The KRG provided labourers, but most of the work is being done by camp residents - men and women alike - building their own places.

“This is not where we belong,” Hamid Hamad, 57, says as he prepares cement. A checkered turban worn by many Yazidi men protects him from the hot midday sun. In the distance, middle-aged women in lilac veils lift their skirts as they weave through the mud and begin to stack bricks.

“I have lost everything. Isn’t it a crime that a man of my age should be doing this work?” Hamid asks.

The shelters, measuring 4x4 metres, are claustrophobic. Salah’s brother, also a Peshmerga, has bricks to build two shelters for his family of eight, but says he has only been given permission to build one to house them all.

“This has to be used as a kitchen, a living room and a bedroom. Everyone has to sleep side-by-side,” says Salah. “We cannot live like this, eight family members in one room. We’re all adults.”

He beckons us to a clearing, motioning to tents blackened by smoke. Signs of life beckon through gaping holes ripped open by flames, cooking utensils and toys just spared by the blaze. This is where they extinguished the fire, he says. “As long as the children are safe, the rest is not important.”

Others standing around mutter quiet praises to God that they escaped with their lives. “What Salah did for us, no one else did,” one says.

Initial relief that they survived is being taken over by anger at the official response and the misery of life in the camp.

In the growing rows of concrete blocks, a kindergarten houses families left homeless by the blaze. Others, including Salah, are sheltering with families who didn't lose their tents, making small living spaces even more cramped.

Speaking to Rudaw, camp officials denied claims that the camp’s fire truck was out of service, saying it was unable to enter the camp due to crowds that had gathered.

Construction of shelters to replace the burned tents is now finished and camp authorities plan for other residents to do the same.

“Every family from the camp can build shelters, but now, all our focus is on the families impacted by the fire,” said Dilawer Behlawi of the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF), which administers camps in the area. “We have prepared all the furniture needed for them… everything is ready now.”

Iraq’s Minister of Migration and Displacement Evan Faeq Jabro visited the camp on the day of the fire and was met by a furious crowd. Anger over the new devastation was coupled with resentment and distrust towards the ministry and the government as a whole, heightened by the return of ISIS-linked Iraqi families from the Syrian camp of al-Hol just a week earlier.

“Go back, go back,” they shouted.

The ministry said in the days after the disaster that families affected would receive financial compensation, which Behlawi says they have received. But the people say they have seen none of it. On the day we visited, a throng of women were huddled at the entrance to the camp, waiting for news of the promised assistance from Baghdad. They were eventually dispersed by camp officials.

“The central government hasn’t even given us a bottle of water,” Salah says as a young boy passed around water to the crowd of workers.

Next to Salah stands Hasan Bashar, his black and yellow shirt dusty from bricklaying. The blaze consumed all of his savings from his job as a cleaner in the camp that pays him 300,000 Iraqi dinars a month. “I’ve been saving for liver surgery,” he says, pointing to his abdomen.

Now, he has lost it all, as well as several days of work. “I asked for four days off work to build my shelter, and they said no. One of my children has nightmares. He wakes up in his sleep, screaming ‘fire, fire’."

Salah hails from the village of Borek, flanking the north side of the mountain range that watches over Shingal on Iraq’s northern border with Syria. After their father passed away, he and his brother shouldered the responsibility of providing for the family, working as daily labourers on construction sites.

“My life in Shingal was all work. We were working to support our family… It was very difficult, to be honest,” he says.

When ISIS attacked in August 2014, his family fled to the Kurdistan Region after a gruelling week on the mountain, but Salah didn’t join them, instead joining the fight against the jihadists at Sherfedin, one of the oldest and most important shrines for Yazidis. Two of his uncles were taken by the terror group and remain missing.

“With my own eyes, I saw women throwing away their children so they would not be taken by ISIS. With my own eyes. Some had two children. They would leave one and take another with them,” he says.

Salah survives on his Peshmerga salary of $400 a month. After joining his family in Sharya, he has been documenting life for his community on his mobile phone.

“In 2017, I looked at our people’s situation… Some didn’t even have tea to drink, or food to eat, so I started making videos of their situation for people who wanted to help.”

He now meets with the needy, the sick and orphaned, documenting their hardships on social media and directing aid to their families, mostly from the diaspora in Europe.

The fire has reminded people of the danger of camp life, but returning home, they say, is out of the question right now because of lack of reconstruction, services, and security in Shingal.

“If you come with us, we’ll show you the bones of our children still lying in the streets. They are still there. No one cares about us,” says Salah. His neighbours nod in agreement, listing their family members still in the hands of ISIS: “my brother, his wife, their children.”

Mayan Hussein, a psychotherapist with the Free Yezidi Foundation, said the fire has brought back memories of the ISIS attack on Shingal.

“It was a big trauma. A lot of people need treatment from the fire, they are collapsing with anxiety, they begin to have flashbacks,” she said from her office on the other side of the camp. “They have to live here. It’s not up to them.”

Back at the site of the fire, Salah sighs, and then smiles.

“You’ve seen us now, we have nothing, we’re starting from scratch. But thank God.”

Link to Article - Photos:

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/220620213
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:54 pm

Yazidis Laud France, Sweden for Launching
    Joint Probe to Prosecute ISIS Fighters
Yazidi groups and activists are welcoming France and Sweden's recent decision to organize a joint investigation team to assist in the prosecution of former Islamic State soldiers who perpetrated crimes against members of the persecuted religious minority in Syria and Iraq

The two European countries formed a joint investigation team last week to look into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against Yazidis by foreign militants linked to IS during the group's ruthless rule over parts of Iraq and Syria.

French and Swedish investigation efforts are being coordinated by the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust). The group said the joint team seeks to organize those efforts and enable information and evidence to be shared more effectively.

"The main aim of the JIT [Joint Investigation Team] will be to identify FTFs [foreign terrorist fighters] who were involved in core international crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, primarily perpetrated against members of the Yazidi minority during the armed conflict in Syria and Iraq," Eurojust said in a statement.\

Jabir Jendo, a Yazidi volunteer who has helped Yazidi women and children who were rescued from IS in Syria, said the effort shows there is still time to get justice for Islamic State's victims.

"Moves like this give the Yazidis hope that those who committed crimes against us cannot escape the judicial system and will be held accountable for their horrendous actions," he told VOA, adding that France and Sweden's initiative "should be an incentive for other countries in Europe and elsewhere to put their efforts together in pursuit of justice for the Yazidi community."

Jendo said the "the presence of some of these individuals in Europe is a direct threat to many Yazidi survivors who live there now and continue to suffer from the trauma that these very individuals have probably inflicted on them."

Pursuit of justice

In August 2014, ISIS carried out a massive attack on Sinjar, once home to the largest Yazidi community in the world. At least 5,000 Yazidis, mostly men and boys, were killed during the attack on the northern Iraqi city.

ISIS then kidnapped thousands of Yazidi children and women, who subsequently were used as sex slaves and child soldiers.

Some of those kidnapped were rescued following the territorial defeat of IS in March 2019, but rights groups say about 3,000 Yazidi women and children remain missing to date.

In May 2021 a U.N. investigations team said "there is clear and convincing evidence that the crimes" perpetrated by ISIS "against the Yazidi people clearly constituted genocide."

According to Ali Isso, director of the Ezdina Foundation, a group that advocates Yazidi rights, the formation of a joint team by Eurojust Agency "is a real step forward in pursuit of the terrorists who participated in the genocide campaign against the Yazidis."

"It can now be said that the terrorists, some of whom fled to the European Union, no longer have a place of refuge after the formation of this team," he told VOA, "Because one of its main powers is to obtain a bank of information on the suspects, and thus there will be effective cooperation between this team and the intelligence authorities of EU members."

Isso urged other countries to follow suit "in order to tighten the screws on the remnants of the terrorist organization" in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.

Eurojust said authorities in several EU countries already have brought charges for terrorism and core international crimes related to ISIS. In a German court, for example, an Iraqi man was sentenced to life in prison in November for his involvement in crimes against the Yazidis.

The United States has repatriated more than two dozen Americans who supported Islamic State and brought criminal charges against some of them. However, the Biden administration has not publicly indicated whether it supports a broad investigation into Islamic State atrocities. Last year, the United States and 17 other countries issued a joint statement expressing their willingness to help Yazidis displaced by Islamic State and advocate for their rights.

Seven years late

Some experts said while the establishment of this joint investigation team is an important development in the search for justice for Yazidi victims, it is seven years late.

"The ISIS atrocities and genocide were well known and documented already by 2015 when many mass graves were found in and around Sinjar," said Seth Frantzman, the author of the book "After ISIS," who has written extensively about the Yazidis.

"That it has taken seven years to do basic work means that the forensic evidence is gone, memories may fade, the thousands of missing Yazidis will likely not be found, and the ISIS criminals have long since begun to fade back into the societies they came from," he told VOA.

Frantzman said, however, that "if this task force and coordination can produce several symbolic trials it will be worth it. It is important to create an archive of survivors' testimonies and commemorate the victims of ISIS and show that there is no impunity for the perpetrators."

This story originated in VOA's Kurdish Service.

https://www.voanews.com/a/yazidis-laud- ... 94149.html
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Jan 17, 2022 11:38 pm

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Shengal against military activity

The Shengal Autonomous Administration made a statement on Monday commenting on the recent events in the region

'CONTINUATION OF THE OCTOBER 9 AGREEMENT'

The Shengal Autonomous Administration said that the recent military mobility was aimed for the security of Shengal but could not secure the town.

According to the Autonomous Administration, the developments are a continuation of the October 9, 2020 agreement signed between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-ruling party in South Kurdistan) and Al-Kadhimi government (central Iraqi government)

The Autonomous Administration called on international powers to prevent military escalation and to promote solutions based on an autonomous administration in Shengal.

The statement includes the following:

“As it is known, in an accident that occurred in Shengal yesterday, 2 students named Leyt Dexil and Sebri Kiçan from the Khanasor town lost their lives and 27 other people were injured. We offer our condolences to the entire Yazidi community, specifically the families of victims and the Heliqi and Bazoyiyan tribes, and wish the injured a quick recovery.

Although it may seem ordinary in the first place, we would like to point out that the accident that occurred yesterday was not an ordinary one, since the accident was caused by a military vehicle. We would like to inform the public that hundreds of military vehicles have been dispatched to Shengal and all public areas recently. The Iraqi army has undertaken serious military activity in the town. This accident occurred because of this military mobility.

We would also like to draw public attention to the images recorded at the time of the accident. Footage circulated on the social media and the news showed Iraqi soldiers cheering at the scene of the accident as if they were in a celebration. These images show us how deep the hostility towards the Yazidi people is.

ISIS members were also celebrating over our martyrs during the Yazidi genocide in August 2014. So, we are asking the Al-Kadhimi government: why are the soldiers under your command so happy about the death of Yazidis?

Recently, a large military force has been dispatched to Shengal. The public is wondering what's going on in Shengal. The Al-Kadhimi government has tasked the Iraqi army with deploying a large military force to Shengal for no apparent reasons under the pretext of security. Currently, hundreds of military vehicles are stationed in Shengal.

Although military forces have been dispatched to Shengal for alleged security reasons, we know that this is a continuation of the October 9 agreement. Attempts are taking place to create serious provocations in the Yazidi town. They want to station their military forces in Shengal for different reasons.

We would like to remind the public that an election was held in Iraq and the new government has not been formed yet. At such a time marked by political crisis and vacancy, the KDP and Al-Kadhimi government turn their steps towards Shengal by taking advantage of the existing power vacuum.

On behalf of whom is this military mobility exercised? We believe that a military escalation will benefit neither Shengal nor the Iraqi central government. It only serves the interests of the KDP and the Al-Kadhimi government.

They want to implement the October 9 agreement signed between the KDP, Al-Kadhimi government and the Turkish state amid such a political crisis. The recent military mobility is a serious provocation attempt, and we are aware of the plans that are intended to be introduced. As ever, we will not allow such plans and provocations to succeed.

Another tension created by the KDP relates to the statements of Majid Shengali, one of the KDP parliamentarians. We know well that he is speaking not personally but on behalf of the KDP. He made remarks about the statue of Martyr Zerdeşt Shengali and said, 'We will not allow the statue of someone who does not represent Shengal to be erected'.

Moreover, some of his other remarks seek to create a conflict between faiths and religions. We respond to the KDP and Majid Shengali; Martyr Zerdeşt Shengali was freeheartedly martyred for Shengal. He fought the atrocities of ISIS while the KDP forces were not even in Shengal during the genocide of the Yazidis.

Instead, they were living happily in Hewler (Erbil) and other towns. So, who is it that represents Shengal? Those who escaped from Shengal for the safety of their life and property, or those who died for Shengal? Therefore, people like Majid Shengali can neither represent Shengal nor speak on behalf of it.

We appeal to the entire Yazidi community and all the people of Shengal against new plans and plots aimed for Shengal. Our people must remain vigilant in the face of these plans and provocations. They must be organized and united. We need to unite stronger than ever and protect an autonomous and free Shengal.

We appeal to all Iraqi political powers. Currently, negotiations are being carried out to form a new government. We do not know what the result will be, but as the Shengal Autonomous Administration, we would like to inform all parties that we are in favour of a solution. We would like to express that we are ready to resolve our problems based on the recognition of an autonomous Shengal.

However, it should be known that the October 9 agreement is not a solution agreement, but a war agreement. All Iraqi political forces need to understand this and reject attempts to cause hostilities in Shengal. Fighting Shengal will not strengthen Iraq, but finding a solution for Shengal will.

In this context, we appeal to all countries, forces of democracy, supporters of freedom and international forces; everyone should act according to their conscience when dealing with Shengal. We are a people who have been subjected to massacres over the centuries. We want to live in our own ancient and holy land under an autonomous administration. This is a genuine solution for both Shengal and Iraq. International powers should not support hostilities and should opt for solutions.

We once again pledge our words to all our martyrs in the person of the great commander Martyr Zerdeşt: We will defend an autonomous and free Shengal whatever it takes.”

Once again I repeat that I firmly believe ALL armed militia groups should be removed from the Yazidi lands

I believe the Yazidi to be a peace loving people and am horrified by the above photo - I want those militia anonymous armed group to be gone

The very FACT that so many Yazidis have chosen to remain in camps or flee to other countries rather than return home PROVES that many of the Yazidis themselves do NOT want anonymous armed militia wandering their lands

I want the Yazidi homelands to be protected by a United Nations Peacekeeping forces not by intimidating looking men carrying gun and wearing sacks on their heads X(
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:04 pm

Dear Father Christmas

Please Santa save our Yazidi friends
My letter started
To everyone else written have I
None ever answered
So I'll give Santa a try
Our letters, appeals and news
Started Wednesday 6 August 2014
In time to save a great many Yazidi lives
But nobody listened to our plea
Please listen now and free our Yazidi friends
From the grip of armed militia
And risk of attacks by ISIS and Turks
Please give Yazidis back their lands
Return to them their stolen ones
So that all the children can be happy again
And all the mums and dads live in peace

Lots of Love
Anthea

PS: Thank you for all the lovely chocolates
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Jan 20, 2022 4:15 am

Iraqi army close to Shengal

Yzidis call for peace in the Shengal region today as tensions and military activities by the Iraqi army continue to escalate

Soldiers have closed in on the town in recent days, which lies in one of the areas contested between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan regional government.

“Dirty plans for Shengal have been going on for eight years. Everyone is doing politics without the Yazidi people including the intimidating armed malita

Sadly Shengal is run under the principles of democratic confederalism, the ideology of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Shengal was the scene of a 2014 genocide at the hands of ISIS, when thousands of men and boys were massacred and thousands of women and girls sold into sexual slavery.

It was liberated by assorted Kurdish groups and USA/coalition bombing and rescue missions, who defeated the jihadists.

The area has been constantly threatened by ass jihadist groups, ISIS, Iraqi forces and Turkish bombing.

“Some parties do not want peace in the region. Yazidis are not supporters of war. They will not allow peace to be disrupted in Shengal,”

Turkey frequently bombs Shengal and was accused of war crimes after it targeted a hospital last year, killing eight people, including four health workers.
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:31 pm

Turkish drone kills two in Shingal

A suspected Turkish drone targeted two vehicles in Shingal, killing two members of a local force, affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)

Denge Cira Sengale, a news outlet linked to the PKK, reported that a Turkish drone hit two vehicles in Shilo valley, Shingal, adding that a Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) fighter Anwar Tolhildan and commander Azad Ezidi were killed.

The YBS is a Yazidi militia group affiliated to the PKK. It is frequently targeted by Turkey as part of the country’s cross-border military campaigns against the PKK.

Rojnews, another PKK-affiliated news outlet, also reported the drone attack, saying that it is not clear if there were casualties.

Shingal Womens Units (YJS), an all-female force linked to the YBS, confirmed both casualties.

PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. It is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/21012022

There are several armed militia group on Yazidi lands - I firmly believe ALL armed militia groups should be removed and a UN Peace Keeping Force should be set up there

The armed groups affiliated to the PKK have to be disbanded as they are making the Yazidis targets for Turkish bombardment and making it unsafe for thousands of Yazidis to return home

The PKK should be protecting the people of Northern Kurdistan with a view to becoming the army of an Independent Northern Kurdistan
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:06 am

German ISIS woman on trial

Leonora Messing faces a court in Germany for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity committed in Syria

A German woman who travelled to Syria as a 15-year-old to join the ISIS armed group has gone on trial accused of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.

Leonora Messing, now aged 21, faced the court on Tuesday in the eastern German city of Halle on suspicion that she and her ISIS husband enslaved a Yazidi woman in Syria in 2015.

During the course of the trial, scheduled to last until at least mid-May and being held behind closed doors, Messing will also face charges of membership of an armed group and weapons law violations.

The high-profile case has prompted soul searching in Germany about how a teenage girl from a small town became indoctrinated and joined the ISIS cause.

Messing ran away from her home in Sangerhausen for the ISIS controlled part of Syria in March 2015.

After reaching Raqqa, then the main ISIS stronghold in Syria, she became the third wife of a German national originally from that region.

Messing’s father, a baker from the German village of Breitenbach, only learned his daughter had converted to Islam by opening her abandoned computer and reading her journal after her disappearance.

Six days after she vanished, her father received a message informing him his daughter had converted and that she had “arrived in the caliphate”.

“She was a good student,” her father, Maik Messing, told regional broadcaster MDR in 2019.

“She used to go to a retirement home to read to the elderly. She took part in carnival as a majorette. That was when a lot of the people we know saw her for the last time.”

Messing had been living a double life and was visiting, ostensibly without her parents’ knowledge, a mosque in the western city of Frankfurt that was in the crosshairs of Germany’s domestic intelligence service.

She is among the more than 1,150 people who left Germany from 2011 for Syria and Iraq, according to government findings.

Her case has attracted particular scrutiny due to her young age, and because her father agreed to be followed for four years by a team of reporters from public broadcaster NDR.

As part of the report, he made public thousands of messages he continued to exchange with his daughter, offering rare insights into daily life under ISIS, but also eventually her attempts to break free.

Prosecutors say Messing took part in human trafficking after her husband “bought” and then “sold” a 33-year-old Yazidi woman.

Messing, who had given birth to two girls, ended up detained in a Kurdish-controlled camp in northern Syria.

Repatriation

In December 2020, she was repatriated in one of four operations bringing 54 people, most of them children, back to Germany.

Although she was arrested upon her arrival at Frankfurt airport, Messing was later released.

Germany has repeatedly been ordered by its courts to repatriate the wives and children of armed group members.

A Berlin tribunal had demanded in October 2019 that a German woman and her three children be brought back, arguing that the minors were traumatised and should not be separated from their mother.

There are an estimated 61 Germans still in camps in northern Syria, as well as about 30 people with a link to Germany, according to official estimates.

A German court in November was the first in the world to issue a ruling to recognise crimes against the Yazidi community as genocide, in a verdict hailed by activists as a “historic” win for the minority.

The Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking group hailing from northern Iraq, have for years been persecuted by ISIS fighters who have killed hundreds of men, raped and enslaved thousands of women and forcibly recruited children as fighters.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/2 ... ing-yazidi
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue Feb 01, 2022 3:07 am

Why Yazidi Survivors Stuck In Limbo

From outside, the unassuming two-story house in Irbil, capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, resembles a regular family daycare center. It echoes with the happy shrieks of children playing behind its high walls. However, the compound holds a closely guarded secret: These are the children of Yazidi women who were raped in captivity by Daesh militants

The extremists tore through Sinjar, ancestral home of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, on Aug. 3, 2014. Some families fled in terror and sought refuge on nearby Mount Sinjar, where they were left exposed to the elements, without food or water.

Those unable to escape found themselves surrounded by black-clad militants who massacred the men and sent the boys to training camps, where they were forced to convert to the group’s warped interpretation of Islam.

The Yazidi women and girls, meanwhile, were held captive, to be distributed to the militants as sex slaves and domestic servants. They were taken deep into Daesh-held territory in western Iraq and neighboring Syria, where they were sold as chattel at medieval-style slave markets.

Many chose suicide rather than submit to rape and servitude. Others would end up carrying their rapists’ children.

Following the territorial defeat of Daesh — first in Iraq in late 2017, then in Syria in early 2019 — many of the captive women and girls managed to escape or were ransomed by family and government authorities.

While some took their children with them, others were separated from them. Physically and emotionally scarred by years of abuse, many were taken in by aid agencies or sent to other countries for specialist treatment.

The accelerated flight of Yazidis following the depredations of Daesh terrorists has brought the ancient community in Iraq to the brink of extinction.

Those women who wanted to return to their homelands following their liberation were presented with a stark choice: Abandon the children fathered by their Daesh captors or forever be exiled.

The decision by Yazidi elders to reject the children of Daesh seems callous and anachronistic to many observers. According to the Supreme Yazidi Spiritual Council, however, it is theologically impossible for anyone, including children, to convert to the Yazidi faith; they must be born to two Yazidi parents.

The Yazidi form one of the oldest ethnic religious groups in the world. They are now spread thinly across the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe, having faced repeated bouts of genocide and persecution for their beliefs.

In the eyes of Daesh, the Yazidi are infidels and devil worshipers who are to be exterminated, their persecution justified by Shariah.

“While I have the utmost respect for the Yazidi religion, I believe the issue of reuniting the mothers with their children is not a religious one,” said Peter Galbraith, a former US diplomat, who has played a leading role in efforts to return children to their mothers.

“It is a fundamental human right. The mothers have the right to their children and the children have the right to their mothers,” he told Arab News.

    The theological case for the rejection of the children is not the only obstacle. Another complication is Article 26 of the Iraqi Nationality Law, which stipulates that if a child’s father is Muslim the child must inherit the father’s religious status
“It is agreed by all that Daesh were not real Muslims — their twisted savagery is not a real representation of the religion,” Vian Dakhil, a Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament, told Arab News. “Yet according to Iraqi law their children have been registered as Muslims.”

A report published in 2020 by human rights monitors Amnesty International, titled The Legacy of Terror: Plight of the Yazidi Survivors, featured accounts by several women of how they were forced to make the heart-wrenching decision of whether to give up their children or their identity.

Hanan, 24, was persuaded by her uncle to leave her daughter at an orphanage, on the understanding that she could visit whenever she wanted. But after the child had been dropped off, Hanan’s uncle told her: “Forget your daughter.”

Sana, 22, took her daughter with her when she was rescued. After daily threats, however, she decided to leave the child with an aid agency.

“In that moment it felt like my backbone broke, my whole body collapsed,” she told Amnesty.

All of the women interviewed for the report displayed signs of psychological trauma and several said they had contemplated suicide. Few have any way to communicate with their children.

“What happened was a real catastrophe and the women who were raped were not only victimized but also faced more problems when the children were born,” said Dakhil.

“It is a human matter; it is motherhood, despite it coming from rape. We cannot force the girls to leave or abandon their children. There must be a solution. There have been girls who were convinced that what happened to them was abnormal and so have decided to give up their kids.”

Women who were able to reunite with their children are not faring much better; they are forced to live in secrecy in Irbil, fearing for their safety should they be discovered.

In 2019, Iraq’s President Barham Salih drafted the Yazidi Female Survivors Bill, which became law in March last year. It represented a watershed moment in efforts to address the legacy of Daesh crimes against Yazidis and other minorities, as it officially recognized acts of genocide and established a framework for the provision of financial support, and other forms of redress, to survivors.

In focusing institutional attention on the female survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, the law placed Iraq among the first countries in the Arab world to recognize the rights of such survivors and take steps to redress their grievances in line with international standards.

Almost a year later, however, little has been achieved in terms of reparations for survivors.

“The vote to approve the bill has been passed; the only problem lies with actual implementation, which hasn’t really started,” said Dakhil.

“The government claims allocating money is a problem but this is unacceptable, as these people are in dire need of assistance and aid. The bill was created for this issue. We will try our best to implement it fully.”

Pari Ibrahim, director of the Free Yazidi Foundation, told Arab News: “The issue of those Yazidi women who have children born from rape is the most challenging one for the Yazidi community.

“Our position, as a Yazidi women-led organization, is that the final decision of the individual survivor is more important than any other view, including those of family members or religious leaders.”

Several of the women want to move to Australia to live with other Yazidi survivors. The Netherlands is also touted as a potential option. However, border restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have slowed the asylum process.

“The best solution is for them to be resettled abroad in another country, where they can live without stigma,” said Ibrahim.

“But no matter what, their rights and their wishes should be respected after all the suffering they have endured. This issue is intensely painful for the Yazidi community — but not more painful than the trauma inflicted upon Yazidi survivors. We must respect and defend their rights.”

For those women and children spurned by their community, neglected by the state and confined to an anonymous compound in Irbil, few options remain other than to wait and hope for an opportunity to leave their tainted homeland behind for good.

“I think the solution lies with international states and humanitarian (nongovernmental organizations),” Dakhil said. “These women should be taken abroad where they can live without fear.”

https://www.eurasiareview.com/01022022- ... -analysis/
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue Feb 01, 2022 9:04 pm

Turkey is Attacking

With warplanes and drones, the Turkish occupation is intensively bombs Şengal district

Warplanes and drones of the Turkish occupation launch intense raids and bombing on large areas of Şingal district.

And local sources reported that, since 22:00 this evening, a number of warplanes and drones of the Turkish occupation launched a wide and intense bombardment on the Şingal district, where the raids and strikes have so far exceeded 20, and most of them have affected the areas of Shalo, Bari, Kirsi, Jal Mira, and the outskirts of the Şingal Mountains.

It is noteworthy that, in conjunction with the bombing of Şingal, Turkish warplanes bombed the Makhmour refugee camp with more than 10 air strikes, in addition to bombing a village in the countryside of Derik in northeastern Syria.
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Feb 03, 2022 11:24 pm

Atrocities against the Yazidi religious community

House of Commons Library

The Yazidis are a religious minority, primarily residing in northern Iraq. In August 2014, they were attacked by Islamic State (ISIS), who then controlled significant amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria. In addition to attacks against the Yazidis, ISIS also targeted Christians, Turkmen, Shabaks, and other minorities.

In 2016 a UN human rights panel and the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, described ISIS actions against the Yazidis as constituting genocide. A further UN investigative team in 2021 concluded there was “clear and convincing evidence” of genocide against the group. The UK Government has condemned the atrocities, but has a long-standing policy that any determination of genocide is one for competent courts (opens PDF), rather than governments.

What happened in 2014?

In the summer of 2014, ISIS militants advanced through Iraq’s northern Sinjar province, where many Yazidis live. The UN reports that upon the arrival of ISIS in August 2014:

    Yazidi men and boys over twelve were separated from women and girls. ISIS executed men and older boys who refused to convert to Islam.

    Yazidi women and children were forcibly moved to holding sites. In one case, women aged over 60 were executed.

    Women and girls were also sold as slaves, and subject to sexual violence.
The total number of Yazidis captured, killed and missing is uncertain. In 2017, the UN estimated more than 5,000 were killed and 7,000 girls and women were forced into sex slavery.
Current situation for Yazidis

While ISIS has lost almost all its territory, its occupation has left a legacy.

In 2021, an estimated 200,000 Yazidis remained displaced from their homes, and 2,800 women and children were estimated to still be in ISIS captivity.

Amnesty International report that many Yazidi children continue to face mental and physical health problems and experience difficulties in re-enrolling in school after missing several years of education.

In March 2021, the Iraqi Parliament voted for the Yazidi female survivor’s law. This introduced a system of reparations for female survivors of ISIS campaigns who were subject to sexual violence and other forms of abuse.

The UK Government has supported implementation of the law and is also funding psycho-social care for female minority survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

Recognising a genocide: UK Government position

One international definition of genocide is that of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The UK Government has been encouraged to state that a genocide took place against the Yazidis. In 2016, the House of Commons divided 278 to 0 that ISIS was committing genocide against Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria.

The UK Government’s long-standing policy is that any determination of genocide is one for competent courts (opens PDF), rather than governments or non-judicial bodies. “Competent courts” include the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and national criminal courts that meet international standards of due process.

How could ISIS fighters be tried?

The ICC has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. However, neither Syria or Iraq are subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC, as they are not parties to the Rome Statute (the ICC’s founding treaty). It is possible for the UN Security Council to refer cases directly to the ICC, but examples of this are rare. Individuals may also be tried by the ICC if they are the national of a state which is party to the court.

Some European states have considered establishing an international tribunal to try ISIS fighters, but the suggestion has not made progress.

The UK Government hopes that ISIS fighters are tried in the most appropriate jurisdiction, which “is often” the region where the offences were committed. It has provided support to Kurdish and Iraqi authorities to help improve their judicial systems.

First ISIS member found guilty of genocide in Germany, 2021

The UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Unitad) works to prepare evidence to support national authorities’ efforts to prosecute ISIS members. In May 2021, it said it had identified 1,444 potential perpetrators (opens PDF) of attacks against the Yazidis.

The UK Government has provided £2 million in funding to support Unitad’s work

Unitad has worked with German prosecutors who, in 2021, oversaw the world’s first conviction of an ISIS member for genocide against the Yazidis. In November, a German court found an Iraqi member of ISIS, Taha al-Jumailly, guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and human trafficking. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Originally arrested in Greece, he was extradited to Germany and prosecuted under the international principle of universal jurisdiction. This allows countries that recognise the principle to prosecute crimes that occurred beyond their country’s borders, regardless of the perpetrator’s nationality.

In response to a PQ that asked what assessment the UK Government had made of its use of universal jurisdiction to prosecute crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Government said in February 2022 that:

The Counter Terrorism Division within the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is responsible for prosecuting core international crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes) and applies the principle of universal jurisdiction when necessary.

Universal jurisdiction helps to ensure that the UK does not provide a safe haven for war criminals or those who commit other serious violations of international law, and the CPS will continue to bring individuals to justice wherever possible. Any decision to prosecute offences of universal jurisdiction in England and Wales is governed by the same principles that apply to any other prosecution and must be in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/re ... 2022-0027/
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