Seven years on, little has changed    

The future of the Yazidis remains under critical threat. Sinjar, known to the Yazidis as the core of their ancestral homeland, continues to be in turmoil against an additional backdrop of complex geopolitics, hindering the chances of comprehensive community recovery from genocide. Despite seven years of promises from the international community and national officials, a meager 25% of Yazidis have returned to Sinjar, the majority of whom still reside in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.

On the 2nd and 3rd of August 2021, under the patronage of His Excellency Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Yazda, in partnership with The Zovighian Partnership, will hold a virtual international conference for the Seventh Annual Commemoration of the Yazidi Genocide. This convening will host honest and action-oriented keynotes, plenaries, and panels to address the key issues facing the Yazidis and other Iraqi ethno-religious minorities today, entitled “Towards a sustainable future for Yazidis and other minorities in Iraq and KRI.” 

Obstructions to justice and accountability

In August 2014, Sinjar was the target of systematic extermination by Da’esh, known as the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), resulting in the killing, enslavement, and massive displacement of an entire community. On the first day of genocide, 1,298 Yazidis were massacred in Sinjar on August 3, 2014. It is estimated that over 5,000 men died in the early massacres. 355,000 Yazidis were displaced by the attacks and atrocities led by ISIL. 68 religio-cultural sites were destroyed. On this August 3, 2021, 2,950 Yazidis are still missing in ISIL captivity. 

On May 10, 2021 by the Special Advisor and Head of the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD), Karim Khan, presented the “clear and convincing evidence, that the crimes against the Yazidi people, clearly constituted genocide” to the United Nations Security Council.

Despite this clear message, no international justice has been achieved. Of the over 500 Yazidi survivors who have given testimonies against their perpetrators, only four convictions have been handed down so far. On July 26, 2021, German courts issued a fourth conviction for crimes against humanity committed by ISIL foreign fighters who had enslaved two Yazidi women. 

“I am afraid that I will spend my whole life waiting for justice. But what if my lifetime will not be long enough to reach accountability?” asks commemoration speaker, Zena Khalat, a human rights activist and member of the Yazda Yazidi Survivor Network (YSN).

Meanwhile, ISIL militants are sitting in jail or facing hasty trials and executions in Iraqi prisons without their victims ever being allowed the agency to face them in court.

No real plans for reconstruction and enabling community dignity

The situation in Dohuk, Sinjar, and the Nineveh Plains remains fragile, unsafe, and flammable, with the presence of ISIL and other armed militia groups still on the ground. More recent geopolitical dynamics with regular strikes by Turkish Air Forces have disabled ghost villages and towns from restoring sustainable community living. With no material efforts to alleviate security risks on the ground, over 75% of displaced Yazidis are still unable to leave the IDP camps. 

Despite the presence of multiple security players, ISIL still attempts to re-infiltrate and cause harm. Recently, while some Yazidis have returned to their homeland, the local district administration has still not been re-established since 2017. Significant administrative and security issues remain unresolved, despite the signing of the Sinjar Agreement on October 9, 2019 by both the Iraq and Kurdistan Regional governments. The agreement has yet to be implemented.

The lack of a national strategy, underwritten by both the Iraqi and KRI governments, to bring public spending and investments to the areas devastated by ISIL occupation is keeping minority communities from exercising their rights to returning home to habitable and socio-economically-enabled areas. Until now, mass graves are still present in many villages and towns in Sinjar, making any safe return a ghastly impossibility. 

“It has never been so overdue to demonstrate to the Yazidis and all minority communities that meaningful policies and actions are underway to bring life back to our homeland,” states Yazda President and commemoration host, Haider Elias.

Urgent actions that must no longer wait

On the occasion of the Seventh Annual Commemoration of the Yazidi Genocide, at a time of remembrance and collective diplomacy, it is imperative that the Iraqi Central Government, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and all international actors:

1. Take the necessary urgent steps to secure accountability for the crimes committed against the Yazidis and other minority groups, including calling for the establishment of a national tribunal, in consultation with victims and survivors, with full international cooperation and facilitation;
2. Protect, preserve and restart the exhumation of mass graves in Sinjar, 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, and initiating the first steps towards rehabilitating villages and towns;
3. Establish a national security team, with the involvement of the International Coalition to Defeat ISIL, to search for the fate of an estimated 2,950 Yazidi women and children who are still missing and are believed to still be held in ISIL captivity;
4. Implement the Yazidi Women Survivors Law and provide reparation to all ISIL survivors;
5. Immediately resolve, and without delay, the issue of the dual local administration in Sinjar, in coordination with the Yazidi community; including the implementation of the Sinjar agreement. 
6. Restore and maintain security in Sinjar by increasing the size of competent local security forces and addressing the presence of many non-state armed groups still operating in the region;
7. Accelerate reconstruction efforts in Sinjar with the 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;
8. Urgently ensure the provisioning of basic and public services to Sinjar, including, but not limited to, electricity, water, telecommunications, roads, security, healthcare, education, and economic enablement;
9. Upon serving retributive justice, design reconciliation programs in consultation with all minority communities to ensure effective, feasible, and peaceful cohabitation in Sinjar amongst all communities and groups in the area;

The Seventh Annual Commemoration of the Yazidi Genocide is hosted in partnership with The Zovighian Partnership. 

“We stand committed to ensuring that our Yazidi friends are not abandoned and that their rights, demands, and future are safeguarded and guaranteed,” says Lynn Zovighian, Co-founder and Managing Director of The Zovighian Partnership.

The official commemorative events will be hosted on Zoom and featured live on all Yazda social media channels on August 2-3, 2021 from 16:00-19:30 Iraq time, with national government leaders, ambassadors and ministers from multiple donor governments, activists, and friends of the cause.

For Arabic click here.

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