By 
04-08-2024
Giulia Fabrizi
Middle East and Human Rights Researcher
Global Human Rights Defence
This year, 2024, we remember the 10th anniversary of the Islamic State’s attack on Sinjar City and its surroundings.
Following the anomalous withdrawal of Peshmerga forces from the area (it remains inexplicable why they were not instructed to defend the city), IS quickly entered Sinjar and initiated the ethnic cleansing of the Yazidi community (Nadia’s Initiative).
Those – some 6000 people – who could not escape on August 3rd, 2014, faced death, captivity, or violence; of the 400,000 who attempted to flee (Nadia’s Initiative), some managed to reach Mount Sinjar; there, they were encircled and trapped without water, food, or shelter in the torching 50°C Iraqi heat (Cetorelli et al, 2017). According to the data collected, nearly all of those who died during the siege of Mount Sinjar were children (Cetorelli et al, 2017).
Only between August 9th and 13th a safe corridor was opened by the Kurdish forces – with the support of US airstrikes – to allow the Yazidi community to leave the region and seek refuge in the adjacent areas (Cetorelli et al, 2017).
Who are the Yazidis?
The Yazidis are a religious minority that has inhabited the mountains of Sinjar for centuries: the region is home to their holy places, shrines, and ancestral villages (among which their most important pilgrimage site, Lalesh) (Asher-Schapiro, 2014). The community – roughly estimated to reach less than a million people worldwide – is mostly composed of Kurdish speakers; in religious terms, though, it is distinct from Iraq’s predominantly Sunni Kurdish population. While the majority of the members consider themselves ethnically Kurdish, some still identify as ethnically Yadizi (Minority Rights Groups, 2017).
Often referred to as “devil worshippers” because of their peculiar religious syncretism, the Yazidis have never been considered people of the Book (meaning Jews, Christians, and Muslims), which worsened their condition as a minority (Asher-Schapiro, 2014). In fact, the history of the Yazidi community is a long record of persecution, misunderstanding, and forgotten memories. Accusations of heresy date back at least to the seventh century and have resulted in violent attacks toward the group since the Arab invasion of Mesopotamia. According to several authors, the Yazidis have been victims of 74 genocides, acts of forced conversion, massacres, and other types of generic persecution. To carry out these acts have been Arabs, Safavids, Ottomans, as well as Kurds, the modern Iraqi state, and – most notably – jihadist terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (YazidiTruth).
Alas, for the Yazidi community, the cycle of violence, massacres, and enslavements didn’t end in November 2014, when most of the area of Sinjar was liberated. It continued for over three years until IS was finally defeated by the US-led international coalition, the Iraqi forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga, and various other militias (Caruso, 2021). Against those who were unable to flee and decided not to convert to Islam, IS carried out a full-fledged genocide, pursued through the following tactics: 1) mass killing of elderly men and women; 2) kidnapping of young women and children; 3) enslavement of girls; 4) brainwashing of boys; 5) torture, including physical and sexual violence; 6) abuse of women; and eventually 7) destruction of property, schools, hospitals, homes and critical infrastructure of the Sinjar region.
Multiple independent sources estimate that around 3100 Yazidis were killed and 6800 kidnapped by IS (Cetorelli et al, 2017). Namely, large numbers of children were taken into captivity and forced into conscription, while numerous younger women and girls were made sex slaves, raped, abducted, and sold (Nadia’s Initiative). An approximate 2800 women are still missing (Caruso, 2021).
What is of the Yazidis today?
Today, Yazidis in Iraq are estimated between 300,000 and 700,000, at least a third of whom reside in refugee camps (Caruso, 2021). The social fabric of the community, along with their land and resources, has been destroyed. Hence, the community is geographically fragmented between Iraq, Syria, Europe, the US and Canada – but the hope to reunite dispersed members and kidnapped women remains to this day (UN News, 2022).
The recognition of the aforementioned events as genocide, both at national and international levels, has been of great importance to support and reintegrate the community. The Iraqi Government was the first to make the claim in November 2014. On March 1st, 2021, the parliament passed the Yezidi Survivors Law, which, in theory, offers survivors compensation, job opportunities, and land. In practice, though, the law has been heavily criticised due to its lack of implementation (Bajec, 2022). The reconstruction and securitisation of Yazidi villages have not progressed well; compensation has been delayed, as have the rehabilitation of services and the promised job openings: according to data from 2020, 60 to 80 % of Sinjar City is still badly damaged, and 60% of the inhabitants of the Nineveh governorate are unemployed (Caruso, 2021). At the International level, the United Nations moved forward only in 2021, announcing that “based upon independent and impartial investigations, complying with international standards and UN best practice, there is clear and convincing evidence that the crimes against the Yazidi people clearly constituted genocide” (UN News, 2021).
Despite these efforts, the consequences of genocide still linger. Justice has never been served; Yazidi women continue to face the stigma of the violence they suffered, and the reintegration of captured children who have served IS military rankings back into the community represents yet another challenge (Ali, 2022). Overall, the situation of the Yazidis as a minority in Iraq remains critical, as they are one of the most fragile minorities in the Middle East, facing a real risk of disappearance (Caruso, 2021).
Sources and Further Reading:
Ali, M. H. (2022). The Forced Displacement of Ethnic and Religious Minorities in Disputed Areas in Iraq: A Case Study of the Post-2014 Yazidi Minority. AlMuntaqa 5 (1): 76–89. Accessed on 5 August 2024https://www.jstor.org/stable/48677172.
Asher-Schapiro, A. (2014, August 11). Who Are the Yazidis, the Ancient, Persecuted Religious Minority Struggling to Survive in Iraq?. National Geographic. Accessed on 5 August 2024https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/140809-iraq-yazidis-minority-isil-religion-history.
Bajec, A. (2022, June 14),. Yazidi Women Survivors of ISIL Crimes yet to Find Justice. Al Jazeera. Accessed on 5 August 2024 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/14/yazidi-women-survivors-of-isis-crimes-have-yet-to-find-justice.
Caruso, A. (2021, March 3). Iraq’s Yazidis: Among the World’s Most Threatened Minorities. IAI Istituto Affari Internazionali. Accessed on 5 August 2024. https://www.iai.it/it/pubblicazioni/iraqs-yazidis-among-worlds-most-threatened-minorities.
Cetorelli V. Sasson I. Shabila N. and Burnham, G. (2017, May 9). Mortality and Kidnapping Estimates for the Yazidi Population in the Area of Mount Sinjar, Iraq, in August 2014: A Retrospective Household Survey. PLOS Medicine 14 (5): e1002297; edited by Alexander C. Tsai. Accessed on 5 August 2024. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002297.
Iraqi House of Representatives (2021, March 2), Yazidi Female Survivors Law.
Nadia’s Initiative. From Genocide to Justice. Nadia’s Initiativ.org.
UN News. (2021, May 10). ISIL crimes against Yazidis constitute genocide, UN investigation team finds. Accessed on 5 August 2024. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/05/1091662/.
UN News. (2022, August 3). UN renews commitment to Yazidi community eight years after ISIL onslaught. Accessed on 5 August 2024. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/08/1123902.
World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples (2017, November). Yezidis. Accessed on 5 August 2024https://minorityrights.org/minorities/yezidis/.
YezidiTruth.org. Yezidis. Accessed on 5 August 2024 http://www.yeziditruth.org/.
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