2,745 Yezidi children have lost one or both parents, official says
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An updated government figure puts the number of Yezidi children who have lost one or both parents to ISIS since 2014 at 2745 minors, according to the Director of the office of Yezidi affairs in the Kurdistan Region.
The new figures show that one or both parents of 220 children are still in ISIS captivity or missing, the director of the Yezidi office Khairi Bodani told Rudaw.
The numbers include 1,759 children who have lost their fathers, 407 children who have lost their mothers and 359 children who have lost both parents. The report says that nearly all of the children currently reside in camps across the region with no or limited professional treatment available for them.
“We have called on the Kurdish government as well as international donors to take the issue of the orphan children seriously and come to their aid,” Bodani told Rudaw earlier.
The office of the Yezidi Affairs was set up by the Kurdish government in the aftermath of ISIS’ takeover of territory in northern Iraq and genocide against the Yezidi population. According to the office, of the 6,255 Yezidis who were kidnapped in August 2014, 3,878 are still in ISIS captivity with nearly 1,800 of them being women and children.
The number of the Yezidis killed by the militants could be as high as over 3,000 but no accurate data is still available since many of the victims’ families have left Iraq and Kurdistan for Europe and it has been increasingly difficult to verify the number of fatalities.
The Iraqi migration office in Erbil has announced that over 40,000 Yezidis have migrated to Europe since 2014.
The new figures show that one or both parents of 220 children are still in ISIS captivity or missing, the director of the Yezidi office Khairi Bodani told Rudaw.
The numbers include 1,759 children who have lost their fathers, 407 children who have lost their mothers and 359 children who have lost both parents. The report says that nearly all of the children currently reside in camps across the region with no or limited professional treatment available for them.
“We have called on the Kurdish government as well as international donors to take the issue of the orphan children seriously and come to their aid,” Bodani told Rudaw earlier.
The office of the Yezidi Affairs was set up by the Kurdish government in the aftermath of ISIS’ takeover of territory in northern Iraq and genocide against the Yezidi population. According to the office, of the 6,255 Yezidis who were kidnapped in August 2014, 3,878 are still in ISIS captivity with nearly 1,800 of them being women and children.
The number of the Yezidis killed by the militants could be as high as over 3,000 but no accurate data is still available since many of the victims’ families have left Iraq and Kurdistan for Europe and it has been increasingly difficult to verify the number of fatalities.
The Iraqi migration office in Erbil has announced that over 40,000 Yezidis have migrated to Europe since 2014.