The Free Êzidî Women’s Movement (TAJÊ) has formally appealed to the United Nations and the Iraqi government for the identification of 19 Yazidi women reportedly burned alive by Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Mosul in 2016. TAJÊ is seeking to have this atrocity formally recognised as an act of femicide.
According to a statement released by the Diplomacy Committee of TAJÊ, the atrocity took place in June 2016, during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The statement said that the women were executed by ISIS after resisting forced conversion to Islam, refusing to fast, and declining to accept polygamy. The women were reportedly burned alive in iron cages in front of an audience.
In the appeal, issued on 12 June 2025, TAJÊ urges Iraqi authorities and international bodies to disclose the women’s identities and conduct a full investigation into the incident. TAJÊ is calling for the incident to be officially recognised as a sex-based massacre, noting that no legal action or official inquiry has taken place in the nine years since the killings.
“This atrocity, in which Êzidî women were murdered solely because they were women and refused to submit, must be recognised, and justice must be served,” TAJÊ stated in its petition.
The 2016 incident is part of a broader pattern of violence committed by ISIS against the Yazidi community. Between 2014 and 2017, thousands of Yazidis were killed or abducted by extremist groups. The United Nations and several governments have recognised these actions as genocide. Many Yazidi women were subjected to systematic rape, enslavement and other forms of sexual violence.
Yazidi Genocide acknowledged in Australian parliamentUK officially recognises Yazidi Genocide by ISIS on ninth anniversaryGerman parliament recognises Yazidi GenocideLuxembourg Parliament recognises Yazidi genocide by ISISDutch parliament officially recognises the ‘Yazidi genocide’
Although some prosecutions have taken place in national courts, TAJÊ argues that specific incidents, such as the Mosul burnings, have not received sufficient legal attention. TAJÊ’s campaign is part of a wider effort to ensure that crimes against Yazidi women are recognised as both ethnic persecution and targeted violence against women.
No official response has yet been received from either the United Nations or the Iraqi government regarding the appeal.
Related Articles:
