ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — On the third anniversary of the events committed by ISIS members against the Yezidis, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the UN Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) has commended the people of Kurdistan and its government for “their noble sacrifice” sheltering the survivors.
“I would like to express deep gratitude to the Kurdistan Government and the host communities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for generously hosting — throughout the three-year conflict — and continuing to host, massive numbers of displaced persons, alleviating their plights and creating a safe and conducive environment for survivors and victims,” wrote György Busztin on Thursday.
He added that from August 4-8 in 2014 nearly 200,000 people fled from Shingal “to safe areas” with tens of thousands of others taking refuge on Mount Shingal.
Many of the Yezidis who fled still remain in camps in the Duhok province or sheltered in other areas across the Kurdistan Region.
“This noble sacrifice will never be forgotten,” Busztin promised.
Sources estimated that between 2,000 and 5,500 persons from the Yezidi community have been killed by ISIS, wrote the UN representative.
UNAMI wrote that evidence from the 70 mass graves discovered to date “must be preserved along with appropriate care and measures to excavate such sites and exhume and identify the mortal remains.”
Yezidi women and children have continued to face enslavement violence and rape at the hands of their ISIS captors.
I recalled a Yezidi survivor’s words with much agony, wrote Busztin:
I lived with my four kids in hell for a year and eight months, I was kept by ‘monsters’ underground in sewage water in Mosul for five months with no direct light, very limited food and no drinkable water. They took away my 12 years old daughter.
I remember her screaming when they separated us, I remember her eyes. I wish I could see her again. They raped me constantly in front of my children, all between four and six years old. I need to believe that this will not happen again.
“On behalf of the United Nations Assistance Mission of Iraq, I would like to expresses my profound sympathy to the families of the victims, missing persons and the survivors of the tragic violence and atrocities that followed ISIL onslaught,” Busztin added.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, more than 1,600 abducted women and girls and 1,700 men and boys remain unaccounted for.
The UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria wrote on Thursday, “reports have emerged of ISIL fighters trying to sell enslaved Yazidi women and girls before attempting to flee Syria.”
A US-led global coalition is currently supporting local ground forces to oust ISIS militants from their so-called capital in Raqqa, Syria.
“The Commission recommends to all parties fighting ISIL to consider plans aimed at rescuing Yazidi captives and use all means available to ensure they are set free during on-going military operations,” its statement read.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has financed the release and rescue of hundreds of Yezidis from their captors in Syria and Iraq in the last three years.
The UN Commission urged the international community to recognize ISIS’ “ongoing crime of genocide.”
It urged further steps to seek justice “including to the International Criminal Court or an ad hoc tribunal with relevant geographic and temporal jurisdiction as well as to dedicate resources to bringing cases before national courts, whether under the framework of universal jurisdiction or otherwise.”
One possible path to justice examined in the Rudaw English series Justice After ISIS is local tribunals.
In June, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced it would open “special judicial body to investigate the terrorist crimes committed against Yezidis.”
Kurdish Yezidi lawmaker Vian Dakhil and others have objected to the location of the proposed court in Hashd-controlled Baaj.
“A Yezidi individual cannot go from here in the displaced camps from Shingal to Baaj to file their complaint against an ISIS member,” she told Rudaw.
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