ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Policies for the reconstruction of a warzone are usually only made after the area is liberated, causing a delay in implementing necessary measures. To prevent that, two Kurdish NGOs are working with international aid groups on a roadmap for rebuilding the Sinjar region, where last August hundreds of thousands of Kurdish Yezidis fled when Islamic State fighters entered.
“The military is working in freeing the region, so our plan is ready for the moment they succeed,” said Chnar Abdullah, speaking for the Ashti Women Leaders for Peace Group and the Emma Organization for Humanitarian Development. “So no time is wasted to begin the healing and rebuilding process.”
The former Kurdish minister of martyrs presented the roadmap during a press conference in the Kurdistan capital Erbil together with former Iraqi MP Tanya Gilly Khailany.
It is the result of the First Lalesh Conference for Peace and Coexistence that in March brought together aid workers, politicians, religious heads and officials from the governments of Iraq and the Kurdistan region. Funding and guidance came from the independent Dutch organization Hivos.S
The report put together the work of five workshops, with data about Yezidis from Shingal and their plight, and more general information about the numbers of internally displaced persons and the economic situation of Shingal before ISIS captured the region.
At the same time, it stated that there is a lack of solid data, with exact numbers for missing Yezidis still not available. The report mentioned an estimated 5,000 men, women and children missing. One of the recommendations, therefore, was to work to provide more reliable data.
According to Abdullah, the report also showed “all the stakeholders how to work together, the Iraqi and Kurdish authorities, the NGOs.”
“We have provided the data and this will help the Planning Ministry to make its own planning. We just did their preparatory work for them,” she said.
Of the multitude of recommendation, some are original, like the suggestion to open a special directorate at the Kurdish Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal to collect, record and research all details about genocide— and the one against the Yezidis in particular.
Another one is to open up a national museum on top of Mount Shingal to show the world what happened there when ISIS captured the region.
New also is the suggestion to open a helpline and other support channels to help get more Yezidi girls out who are still held by ISIS. Many different actors are currently working separately to free the girls— from NGOs to families and government departments—but the help is splintered.
The suggestion to make a special team to receive and “handle” rescued women and assign “properly trained female detectives” to investigate their cases, is meant to save the traumatized women the agony of having to deal with many different people and tell their story over and over again.
The report made recommendations for revitalizing the economy and agriculture in the Shingal region to be able to offer the refugees jobs and income when they return. It did not mention how much money is needed, nor where it comes from—considering Iraq is going through an economic recession because of the war against ISIS and low oil prices.
“Baghdad is responsible,” said former MP Tanya Gilly about the Shingal region. “That is where the money should come from.”
To help improve the process of reconstruction and to hear from the people what is needed most, the report recommended the opening of an office of the Iraqi Parliament in the region.
Abdullah stressed that the work that needs to be done is huge. “We need many years of teamwork and money,” she said.
One important issue the report did not cover is the distrust between the Yezidis who fled their houses and the Arab villagers, some of whom worked with ISIS. Many Yezidi refugees have vowed not to return if the Arabs were allowed to return too.
“We have to rebuild the trust,” Gilly agreed. “First we have to make sure there is security, the military has to clear the weapons and explosives. Then people need to know what the situation is, can they go back? That should strengthen their trust.”
But this is not only a matter for the Yezidis, she added. There is huge distrust between many groups in Iraq.
“For the whole country we need a long term habitation. How to create coexistence. Both the KRG and Baghdad are responsible for rebuilding these areas,” Gilly said. “The KRG can show its role there. If it does, and people see it is safe, the other steps we mentioned will follow naturally. Not easily, though, but they will.”
