UN: On third anniversary of ′Islamic State′ attack on Yazidis, genocide continues | News | DW | 03.08.2017
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UN: On third anniversary of 'Islamic State' attack on Yazidis, genocide continues

In August 2014, "Islamic State" militants launched what the UN calls a genocidal campaign against the religious and ethnic minority in northern Iraq. Despite the ouster of IS, the Yazidis' ordeal is far from over.

Traumazentrum im Irak (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Martins)

A United Nations human rights committee investigating violations of international law in Syria said Thursday that Yazidis continued to face atrocities at the hands of "Islamic State" (IS) militants - and the world isn't doing enough about it.
Listen to audio 09:04

WorldLink: Helping victims of Islamic State

"The genocide is ongoing and remains largely unaddressed, despite the obligations of States party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 to prevent and to punish the crime," the OHCHR commission wrote in a statement to mark the anniversary of IS launching an assault on the Yazidis of the Sinjar region in northern Iraq near the Syrian border.

Read more: From the Sinjar mountains to Germany's Rhineland: a Yazidi refugee's story

The Yazidis, a religious community whose belief and practices span thousands of years, are reviled as infidels by IS. During the assault, their militants killed and kidnapped thousands of Yazidis, forcing many to flee their home region. The images of stricken survivors trapped on Mount Sinjar in its aftermath prompted the US to launch airstrikes against IS in Iraq.

  • woman with headscarf kneeling on cushions (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Martins)

    New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters

    Hoping for help

    Perwin Ali Baku escaped the Islamic State after more than two years in captivity. The 23-year-ld Yazidi woman was captured together with her three year old daughter. "I don't feel right," she says, sitting on a mattress on the floor of her father-in-law's small hut in a northern Iraq refugee camp. "I still can't sleep and my body is tense all the time."

  • Child sitting on stony ground, laundry fluttering on lines overhead (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Martins)

    New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters

    Tormenting flashbacks

    When Perwin hears a loud voice, she cringes at the thought of her captors. She hopes for help at the newly established institute in Iraq, part of an ambitious project funded by the German state of Baden Württemberg that has already brought 1,100 women who had escaped Islamic State captivity to Germany for psychological treatment.

  • Refugee camp in Iraq, rows of huts (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Martins)

    New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters

    Kabarto refugee camp

    Members of Germany's 100,000 strong Yazidi community reached out to help the women - and the Baden Württemberg state legislature approved a 95 million euro program over three years to bring women abused by the IS to Germany. Now, help is on the way on site in Iraq.

  • Dohuk Irak and map

    New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters

    No trauma treatment - yet

    As fighting rages between Iraqi forces and the IS in Mosul only about 75 km from Dohuk, the number of victims that make it to freedom increases daily. 26 psychiatrists work in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq with its population of 5.5 million and more than 1.5 million refugees and internally displaced people. None specializes in treating trauma.

  • Jan Kizilhan (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Martins)

    New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters

    Hope on the horizon

    German trauma specialist Jan Kizilhan, who has Yazidi roots but immigrated to Germany at the age of 6, is the driving force behind the new institute. The program will train local mental health professionals to treat people like Perwin and thousands of Yazidi women, children and other Islamic State victims.

  • people standing in front of building (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Martins)

    New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters

    Training psychotherapists

    The idea is to train 30 new professionals for three years and then extend the program to other regional universities: in ten years' time, there could be more than 1,000 psychotherapists in the area. Students will receive a double masters degree in psychotherapy and psychotraumatology according to German standards, and training from both local and German professors.

  • Kizilhan speaking to two men (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Martins)

    New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters

    Duty to help

    Kizilhan has interviewed thousands of women in refugee camps - and more recently, prospective students for the program's inaugural class. "We are talking about general trauma, we are talking about collective trauma and we are talking about genocide. That's the reason we have to help if we can - it's our human duty to help them."

    Author: Nadine Berghausen


Boys missing, girls enslaved

Three years on, thousands of Yazidi men and boys remain missing and IS continues to subject about 3,000 Yazidi women and girls in Syria to horrific violence, including daily rapes and beatings, the commission said, adding that it had received reports of IS fighters trying to sell enslaved Yazidi women and girls as international forces close in on its stronghold of Raqqa.

The commission called for everyone fighting against IS to work toward rescuing Yazidi captives and for the international community to recognize that IS was committing genocide against Yazidis and they should be brought to justice.

Sinjar and the region surrounding it had been home to about 400,000 Yazidi people before the IS onslaught began. IS has been driven out of the area but only about 1,000 Yazidi families have returned to Sinjar city. That's because various groups including Kurdish and Shiite forces which drove out IS are vying for control of the area, making it difficult to guarantee security and advance reconstruction efforts.

Read more: A town in ruins: Sinjar liberated from IS

"The lack of services and political problems are preventing families from returning," Jalal Khalaf, the director of the mayor's office in Sinjar, told Reuters.
Watch video 08:48

Psychologist helps IS victims in Iraq

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Audios and videos on the topic

WorldLink: Helping victims of Islamic State  

Psychologist helps IS victims in Iraq  

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