SINJAR, August 12, 2022 – Yazidi survivors are calling upon national and international governments to support their demands for justice and accountability, beyond just recognizing the Yazidi Genocide. In a survivor-led report titled, “Why calls for transitional justice for Yazidi genocide survivors must not go unheard,” published in Arab News, Yazidi survivors describe what constitutes personal and collective justice after escaping Da’esh captivity and returning to their families in makeshift camps in Sinjar.

In a special collaboration with Arab News Research & Studies, Yazda, a Yazidi-led community institution, and The Zovighian Partnership co-released a report written by co-authors Natia Navrouzov and Lynn Zovighian with members of the Yazda Yazidi Survivors Network (YSN). 

The report highlights the imperative of actively empowering women in post-conflict peace-building processes. The Yazidi Genocide is analyzed as a case in point and speaks on the importance of meaningfully including women in decision-making governance to achieve justice and accountability. As one survivor explains in the report: “Women’s peace and security increases when women are supported to play an active role in post-conflict peace-building processes, and this is what we need as women who have survived Da’esh captivity.” 

Natia Navrouzov, Legal Advocacy Director at Yazda Organization, who works closely with Yazidi survivors to advocate for their rights, explains: “Survivors are today indispensable advocates of transitional justice initiatives. Only with their full participation in decision-making processes will Iraq be able to shape a safe and inclusive society.” 

"As part of our Minority Report series at the Arab News Research & Studies Unit, we make it a point to highlight the histories and plights of all ethnic minorities around the world. The Yazidi community has been at the forefront of Da’esh attacks in Iraq and Syria, and its important to understand the power of telling their stories,” stated Tarek Ali Ahmad, Head of Research & Studies at Arab News.

The report presents a legal and advocacy analysis collected from public speeches and consultative sessions with Yazidi survivors, and identifies three key pillars and mechanisms to achieve transitional justice.

1. Survivors seeing their day in court to prosecute Da’esh militants for crimes of genocide

While Yazidi female survivors are demanding that they testify against their genocide perpetrators in court, there is an absence of facilitated justice mechanisms to prosecute Da’esh militants for crimes of genocide. Today, proceedings against Da’esh militants in Iraq have been limited to crimes of terrorism. Some survivors are calling for international involvement because they do not trust tribunal proceedings in the Kurdistan Region or Iraq. As one YSN member remarked after the fifth conviction of a Da’esh member in German courts: “We don’t want our cases to become a political battlefield of opposing religious and political groups. An international presence in the courtroom would ensure that the process is objective and fair and that we obtain the justice we are looking for, and most importantly, the justice we can trust.” Survivor demands for trusted criminal accountability requires institutional reforms and proof of an independent judiciary. 

2. Returning home to Sinjar as safe and empowered citizens 

Today, the failure to design and implement an inclusive and holistic Sinjar Agreement is institutionalizing security dangers and non-representation of Yazidis and minority groups in local government and public administration. Although all Sinjaris, Iraqis, and Kurds suffered under Da’esh, survivors explain how no efforts have been done to encourage reconciliation and resolve deep-rooted forms of discrimination and persecution against minority communities. As one survivor explains in the report: “Women find peace, security and empowerment when they are secure and protected, when they receive adequate support and when they are empowered to be independent.” As such, survivors believe they cannot return to Sinjar as safe and empowered citizens and feel they are being denied justice.

3. Recovering missing family members and receiving reparations for time in captivity 

Survivors also stress the importance of recovering missing family members and receiving reparations for their time in captivity by Da’esh. A recent count between the Office of Rescued Yazidis in Kurdistan and Yazda sets the number of still missing Yazidis at 2,670. Survivors lobbied for the Yazidi Survivors Bill, which became law in 2021, recognizing the Yazidi Genocide and establishing a reparations framework for women enslaved by Da’esh. However, survivors find its poor and incomplete implementation to be insulting and another example of how Iraqi public institutions are treating Yazidis as second class citizens. The exhumation of mass graves is still ongoing, further dissuading Sinjaris from returning to their villages. The report also highlights the calls of Yazidi survivors to establish a very overdue official search-and-rescue task force to safely bring back home the women, men, and children still being held by Da’esh militants.

Self-determination and community-led governance are integral to justice

Yazidi survivors want to advocate for their rights. As one YSN survivor said: “Survivors should be active in ensuring women’s peace and security for both themselves and others; they should lead the activities that provide them with peace and security so that they feel like collaborators rather than victims.” 

“There is a need for innovative community-led governance to allow the Yazidi people to fully achieve and claim ownership of transitional justice on their own terms,” explains Lynn Zovighian, Co-founder and Managing Director of The Zovighian Partnership.

The co-authors conclude the report by emphasizing the importance of a post-conflict reintegration and redevelopment effort: “Eight years after a genocide that still sees no end, the Yazidi people have much to teach and inspire. By honoring the Yazidi genocide, Sinjar can become a case for justice built on community self-determination and international law that empowers peace-building efforts in other conflict zones.”

For Arabic click here.

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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