Yazda, in collaboration with The Zovighian Partnership, held a virtual convening titled, “Towards a sustainable future for Yazidis and minorities in Iraq & KRI,” on the significant occasion of the Seventh Annual Commemoration of the Yazidi Genocide. 

Joining forces with an action plan for Sinjar

In his welcoming speech, His Excellency Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Kurdistan stated that, “Da’esh systematic attacks against the Yazidis still shock us today. And beyond our shock, we should seek justice and find an inclusive and peaceful future for the next generation of Yazidis.” He added, “We will continue to provide humanitarian assistance for Yazidis.” 

In turn, Mr. David Mandel Anthony, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Global Criminal Justice at the U.S. Department of State delivered a speech explaining: “In 2016, the Secretary of State made a declaration that ISIS was responsible for crimes against humanity.” He concluded, “We continue our efforts to facilitate the return of displaced people, which is an important part of accountability, to help the return of displaced Yazidis.” He also called for restarting the exhumation of mass graves in Sinjar.

Enabling security and equitability

In turn, Her Excellency Administrator Samantha Power, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) stated, “It is a great honor to address the Yazda community and the Yazidi survivors to help them find justice.” She added that the “USA has encouraged the Iraqi government to prosecute the crimes of genocide.” She also urged the Iraqi government for the full inclusion of Yazidis in implementing the Sinjar Agreement.

Her Excellency Canadian Member of Parliament Michelle Rempel Garner declared, “The international community failed to protect the Yazidi people.” She concluded by saying: “Justice means more than just prosecution. Action starts with political will.” 

The second panel of this year’s commemoration recommended potential paths for the rebuilding of Sinjar to give way for a sustainable future for minorities. Panelist Dr. Ali Al Bayati, Member of the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, explained, “It is important to take institutional reforms to protect minority groups and engage them in participatory decision making.” Ms. Reine Hanna, Director of the Assyrian Policy Institute, stressed the importance of “prioritizing civil society groups that are authentic decision makers, and that should be included in the dialogue, to collectively ensure services and investments for Sinjar.”

Survivors of ISIL captivity call for a safe and sustainable future

Members of the Yazda Yazidi Survivors’ Network also spoke at the annual commemoration, on behalf of Yazidi women survivors. Ms. Zena Haji advocated for the rights of survivors of Yazidi and minority communities stating, “There should be a full inclusion of representatives from all minority groups – especially survivors of ISIL captivity – in all decision-making and governance processes that will determine the sustainable, safe, and prosperous future of all communities in the area.”

On the many delays facing the re-development of Sinjar, Ms. Zinah Khallat Sulaiman stressed, “We have the right to search the fate of Yazidi women and children who are still missing, allowing families of victims to bury their loved ones properly and achieve some closure, while also ensuring comprehensive safeguarding and documentation of all evidence of genocide.”

In turn, Ms. Lynn Zovighian, Co-founder & Managing Director, The Zovighian Partnership stated, “Yazidis do not only need basic services. They need to be empowered to be productive communities to be able to give back to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.” She also explained that housing in Sinjar must be co-defined with the Yazidi people, integrating “their voices, their needs, their identity, their unique ways of life, and their socio-cultural and religious fabric that makes them community.”

Reconciliation programs to ensure peaceful cohabitation in Sinjar

In his concluding remarks, Sheikh Dr. Anas Al-Esawi, Imam and Preacher at Gilani Mosque, stressed the need of “designing reconciliation programs in consultation with all minority communities to ensure effective, feasible, and peaceful cohabitation in Sinjar amongst all communities and groups to ensure peaceful cohabitation in Sinjar.” He also called for recognizing these atrocities and prosecuting the criminals.

His Excellency Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Iraq, Ulric Shannon said, “Responding requires action on many fronts including humanitarian support, rebuilding homes and justice and accountability.”

Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans closed the commemoration by calling for interfaith dialogue and actionable steps to urgently resolve key challenges facing the chronically displaced Yazidi and minority communities of Sinjar, stating, “We need to consolidate our efforts, because “strength is in unity.”

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The Zovighian Partnership is a family-owned social investment platform, established by father and daughter in 2013. Deeply invested in R&D, we are committed to delivering ethical, inclusive, and innovative design, research, and prototypes.

The Zovighian Partnership Public Office is committed to delivering significant resources to bringing grounded methodology, sound governance, and rigorous strategic thinking to communities and cities in crisis. We hold ourselves accountable to giving voice to the diversity of views that are central to long-term and sustainable peace and socio-economic enablement.

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Yazda is a global community-led institution that protects and champions all religious and ethnic minority communities, including Assyrians, Chaldeans, Kakais, Shabak, Yazidis, and others in Iraq, Kurdistan Region, and Syria.

Founded in 2014 at the onset of the genocide perpetuated by Da’esh, also known as Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) against the Yazidis, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity against other minorities, Yazda leads advocacy and strategic projects in Dohuk, Sinjar, and the Nineveh Plains, as well as global diaspora hubs.

www.yazda.org