A day before the ninth anniversary, Yazidi women gathered at the Chamshko camp in Zakho, mourning the death of their loved ones and the unknown whereabouts of many others.
Shame Deroo, a Yazidi genocide survivor who has lost 15 children and grandchildren is calling on the Iraqi and Kurdish government to help return their "skeletons" for them so they could rebury them in their heartland of Shingal.
"Ten of our children were rescued and returned. They [ISIS] killed 15 others and their skeletons are in Baghdad. My skeletons are in Baghdad. I have to go and bring back the skeletons of my Jilan [her daughter]. I beg you all to work to return the skeletons for us," Deroo told Rudaw's Nasr Ali on Wednesday.
According to the office, over 120,000 Yazidis have left Iraq since ISIS waged its devastating campaign on the community, and tens of thousands of those who remain in the region live in camps.
The UK on Tuesday ‘formally acknowledged’ that "acts of genocide" were committed against the Yazidis at the hand of ISIS in 2014.
In 2021, the Iraqi parliament passed the Yazidi Survivors Law (YSL), which intends to provide assistance to victims of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq.
ISIS seized control of large swaths of land in Iraq and Syria in 2014. Iraq's Yazidis were particularly targeted as the group reigned terror on the religious minority's heartland of Shingal, killing around 5,000 Yazidi men, many of whom were executed and dumped in mass graves, according to the United Nations (UN).
Nine years on, the security situation in Shingal remains dire, making it difficult and dangerous for many displaced Yazidis to return. Clashes take place between the Iraqi army and the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS), an all-Yazidi militia affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The YBS has also been affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which also maintains a significant presence in Shingal.