Kurdish Yazidis, who fled their homes when Islamic State militants attacked the town of Shingal. File photo: AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Britain and the Czech Republic’s consul-generals to Erbil have described the efforts of their governments to assist the Yezidi people as the world marked four years after the ISIS genocide began on August 3, 2014.
Speaking to Rudaw, Martin Warr, UK consul-general to Erbil, said Britain has made “a major contribution to the defeat of Daesh [ISIS].”
He also praised the British government’s “huge humanitarian contribution to those who’ve been affected.”
Also speaking to Rudaw, Michal Svoboda, the Czech Republic’s newly appointed consul-general to Erbil, described some of his government’s concrete contributions, including a medical project in the village of Sherfadin near Shingal.
The Czech government has also committed funds to support IDPs from Shingal now living in Duhok governorate, he said. Future projects include a women’s sanctuary and a center for children with autism.
With a focus on creating sources of income, the Czech government this week opened the Shingal Bakery in the village of Kaneka, southern Duhok. This social enterprise creates livelihoods for displaced people while providing bread for the needy.
More than 6,000 members of the religious minority were taken captive by ISIS militants when the group swept through northern Iraq, committing genocide against the Yezidis. Nearly half of the abductees remain unaccounted for.
Around 350,000 Yezidis are still living in IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region. Thousands have travelled abroad for medical or psychological treatment. Many will not return.
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