Yazidis and the Islamic State Genocide

The Yazidis are an ethno-religious group of about one million that has lived primarily in northern Iraq for thousands of years. Most Yazidis speak Kurmanji, a Kurdish dialect, and practice an ancient gnostic faith that incorporates beliefs from Islam, Zoroastrianism and Mithraism.

Prior to 2014, the largest Yazidi community lived in the mountainous Sinjar district in the Ninewah Province of Iraq, where holy sites have held religious significance for generations of Yazidis. Since the 16th century, the community has been persecuted by groups who want to settle Yazidi land and religious fundamentalists who believe that Yazidis are “infidels.” In a 2014 National Geographic article, one scholar estimates that the Yazidis have survived “72 previous genocides, or attempts at annihilation.”

One of the most significant genocidal campaigns against the Yazidis began in 2014, when jihadist militants from the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked Yazidi villages in Sinjar. The Yazidis’ land was of strategic importance to ISIS: it contained a route between two of the terrorist group’s strongholds in Iraq and Syria. Nearly all of Sinjar’s 400,000 Yazidi residents were displaced, fleeing to refugee camps in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Sinjar Mountain, and eventually escaping through a corridor opened to Syria. Thousands of men and boys were massacred, while about 6,800 women and girls were abducted by ISIS and sold into sexual slavery. About 3,000 Yazidis are estimated to still be in captivity. Families and organizations are working to rescue abducted Yazidis; ISIS sometimes returns captives after receiving large ransom payments. With each region of Iraq and Syria re-taken from ISIS, more Yazidis are rescued and move to camps in the Kurdistan Region.

Since 2014 an estimated 3,000 women and girls have escaped or been rescued from ISIS captivity. There was strong media interest in their stories specifically, and many journalists interviewed survivors who lived in camps throughout the Kurdistan Region.

The Yazidi cultural tradition includes a patriarchal code of honor that governs how men and women are expected to behave. According to Yazidi custom, it is forbidden to convert one’s faith, marry someone who is not Yazidi or from a different caste, or have intimate relations outside of an approved marriage. In 2007 Yazidi men attacked a 17-year old girl, stoning her to death for having a relationship with a Muslim. When ISIS abducted Yazidi women and girls as part of their genocidal campaign, they intentionally violated this honor code, believing the women would never be accepted back into the community. They were wrong: the Yazidi Spiritual Council issued a decree stating that women and girls would be welcomed back and with honor. This encouraged many to escape from ISIS, and many families to go to great lengths to rescue female relatives at great cost. However, women have had varied experiences as they return to their broken families and communities. Some have been rejected, others welcomed, and still others accepted but facing questions about their honor. Recently women with children born of rape have been forced to choose between their families or their children. All of these issues raise concerns about stigmatization of Yazidi women, even within their own community.

Today, Yazidi refugees are scattered throughout the Middle East, Europe and beyond. Although ISIS was mostly defeated in Sinjar in 2015, Yazidis are reluctant to return to their homes because entire cities are in ruins and many acknowledge that not all of the ISIS militants have been driven out. Violence continues in Sinjar, where the defeat of ISIS created a power vacuum that many military actors are trying to fill, including the Iraqi Security Forces, Iranian-backed popular mobilization units (PMUs) that helped defeat ISIS, Yazidi forces under the auspices of the PMUs, and the Yazidi fighters who are part of the Kurdish People's Protection Units militias. All of these groups are vying for control over different parts of Sinjar, leaving the Yezidi community concerned about their safety. It is also a disputed region that is claimed by both the local Kurdish government and the central Iraqi government based in Baghdad; this ongoing tension prevents investment in and reconstruction of Yazidi villages and towns.

Nadia Murad was born in 1993 in the Yazidi farming village of Kocho, Iraq. When she was 19 years old, the Islamic State ransacked Kocho and murdered hundreds of men, adolescent boys, and older women, including many of her family members. Murad, along with other girls and women from her village, was abducted and held captive; during that time she was subjected to beatings and rape. She eventually escaped, first to a refugee camp and later to Germany, where she was granted asylum.

Nadia Murad now travels the world calling attention to the Yazidi genocide and the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. She is the founder of Nadia’s Initiative, an organization dedicated to “helping women and children victimized by genocide, mass atrocities and human trafficking to heal and rebuild their lives and communities,” according to Forbes. In 2018, Nadia Murad was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her outspoken activism. She donated her prize money to Nadia’s Initiative to continue supporting victims and survivors of sexual violence.

Sources

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Asher-Schapiro, Avi. “Who Are the Yazidis, the Ancient, Persecuted Religious Minority Struggling to Survive in Iraq?” National Geographic, Aug. 11, 2014. www.news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140809-iraq-yazidis-minority-isil-religion-history/

Doucet, Lyse. “Iraq Yazidis: The 'Forgotten' People of an Unforgettable Story.”BBC News, Sept. 5, 2018. www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-45406232.

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“Iraq: ‘Honour Killing’ of teenage girl condemned as abhorrent.” Amnesty International, May 2007. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/iraq-%27honour-killing%E2%80%99-teenage-girl-condemned-abhorrent

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Mednick, Sam. “ISIS May Be Gone, But Iraq's Yazidis Are Still Suffering.” Foreign Policy, Nov. 26, 2018. www.foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/23/isis-may-be-gone-but-iraqs-yazidis-are-still-suffering-sinjar-ezidxan-pmu-nadia-murad/.

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