Amnesty International says thousands of Yazidis remain missing
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Thousands of Yazidis who survived atrocities by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 remain missing, Amnesty International said on Wednesday ahead of the 10th anniversary of ISIS attack on the Yazidi community in Iraq.
“The Yezidi community suffered unthinkable harm at the hands of Islamic State,” said Lauren Aarons, Amnesty International’s Senior Adviser on Gender, Conflict and International Justice. “Ten years after IS first launched its attack against the Yezidis, their suffering continues today, as thousands remain missing.”
In August 2014, ISIS attacked the Yazidi community in Iraq, killing more than 3,000 Yazidi men, women and children, and abducting at least 6,800 primarily women and children, according to the Amnesty International.
ISIS was territorially defeated in March 2019 by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) supported by the U.S.-led Global Coalition. The SDF managed to free hundreds of Yazidis in Syria after ISIS’ defeat in its last stronghold in the town of Baghuz in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, eastern Syria. However, many remain missing.
According to the Office for Kidnapped Yazidis in Duhok, an estimated 2,600 Yazidis remain missing.
The Amnesty International urged the U.S. and UK governments to provide support for all initiatives to identify missing Yazidis that honor survivors’ rights and agency.
It also called on U.N. agencies such as the UNHCR, UNICEF, UN Women and the Independent Institution for the Missing in Syria to dramatically scale up their efforts on behalf of missing Yazidis.
On Aug. 3, 2014, a few months after the proclamation of the so-called “caliphate” by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS militants attacked the Yazidi’s largest community in Iraq’s Nineveh Province, close to the Syrian border. Within hours, Yazidis were displaced en masse, a majority of which sought shelter on top of nearby Mount Sinjar (Shengal).
After only three days, ISIS controlled most of the Sinjar region. Only the mountain itself remained beyond reach. On its barren peaks, thousands of people were trapped without food, water or shade from the scorching summer sun. However, for those remained behind, a darker story was about to be told.
In the villages which dot the landscape east and south of Mount Sinjar, a massacre was ensuing. The elderly – men and women alike – were killed on the spot. Yazidi girls were taken to be sold as “sex slaves,” while boys were forced to join the “Cubs of the Caliphate” – ISIS’ minor training program.