Twenty one civil society organisations from Iraq’s Sinjar region are calling for international recognition of the Islamic State (ISIS) attacks on the Yazidi people as genocide.
The call comes on the anniversary of the massacre of Yazidis by ISIS, that started on 3 August 2014.
Recognition of the genocide by 11 countries is not enough, and the necessary work for the reconstruction of the region is not being undertaken, the organisations said in their statement.
In their joint statement at the commemoration they said: “The necessary work needed for the reconstruction of Sinjar is not being done; only 11 countries have recognised the genocide so far. We call on all governments to recognise ISIS’s treatment of the Yazidis as genocide. All countries should repatriate and prosecute ISIS fighters. We call on all Yazidi institutions and organisations in the world and the region, especially the United Nations and Iraq, to work to fulfil the demands and rights of the Yazidi people.”
The organisations also highlighted the lack of the implementation of the Yazidi Female Survivors Law ratified by the Iraqi Council of Representatives on 1 March 2021. The law officially recognises acts of genocide against female survivors and establishes a framework for providing financial support and other forms of redress to survivors, but it has yet to go into effect.
Meanwhile, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy and Foreign Affairs Commission Co-Spokesperson Feleknas Uca submitted a proposal to have the massacre of Yazidis known as the 74th Firman recognised as genocide in the Turkish parliament.
The ISIS attacks against Yazidis were carried out in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq in 2014, starting on 3 August. ISIS overran the Yazidi land, forcing young women into sexual and domestic servitude for ISIS fighters, massacring thousands of people and displacing Yazidis in the area. ISIS was removed from the area 13 November 2015. In 2016 an independent U.N. commission of inquiry recognised the massacres as genocide.