ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Monday marks the 12th anniversary of the Islamic State (ISIS) genocide against the Yazidis, but hundreds of thousands of members of the community remain displaced, including more than 135,000 still living in camps, a senior official said on Sunday.
"According to our data, 135,860 Yazidis remain displaced and are living in camps across the Kurdistan Region. Another 189,337 Yazidis are living in different cities across the Kurdistan Region," Hussein Qaidi, head of the Office for Rescuing Kidnapped Yazidis at the Kurdistan Region Presidency, told Rudaw.
ISIS swept across large parts of northern and western Iraq in June 2014 before launching its assault on the Yazidi heartland of Shingal (Sinjar) on August 3. Although the group was territorially defeated in 2017 after three years of fierce battles, it continues to pose security threats in Iraq and Syria.
During the genocide, ISIS militants killed an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 Yazidi men and elderly women and abducted 6,417 women and children.
According to data provided to Rudaw by Qaidi, 3,595 abductees have been rescued, while thousands remain missing.
More than 18 countries, along with the United Nations and the European Union, have officially recognized ISIS's atrocities against the Yazidis as genocide.
Baghdad has encouraged displaced Yazidis to return to Shingal, offering returning families four million Iraqi dinars (around $2,000) in financial assistance, along with basic household appliances such as a refrigerator, stove, and television. However, implementation has been uneven, with many returnees saying they have yet to receive the promised assistance due to budget delays, while security concerns, damaged infrastructure, and a lack of basic services continue to deter many families from returning.
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