The day has been commemorated annually on June 19 since the adoption of the first United Nations Security Council resolution recognizing sexual violence during conflict as a weapon of war. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on Monday that this year’s commemoration was focused of technology and how it plays a role in perpetuating violence.
The UN passed the resolution condemning conflict-related sexual violence in 2015, in the backdrop of the Islamic State (ISIS) waging a brutal fight in Iraq and Syria, capturing territory and committing heinous crimes along its way. The use of sexual violence by ISIS as a weapon of war became a notable characteristic, with the Yazidi community in Iraq paying a heavy price. Despite ISIS being territorially defeated, Yazidi survivors are yet to be fully reintegrated into society.
“We have to coordinate the efforts to implement the resolution [UNSC1325] between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq,” Khanzad Ahmed, the Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Region’s High Council for Women and Development said at a conference organized by her council, in coordination with the UN, in Erbil.
UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security focuses on the role of women in the “prevention and resolution of conflicts” as well as their participation in politics and reconstruction efforts post conflict.
Ahmed spoke of the steps taken by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in ensuring the implementation of the resolution in its area of influence, stating that the pillar of the plan remains the protection of displaced women residing in camps.
“The survivors need more attention and practical steps to be taken,” Ahmed added.
The Yazidis in Shingal were subjected to countless heinous atrocities, including forced marriages, sexual violence, and massacres when ISIS captured the city in 2014, and were forced to flee to displacement camps across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Iraq passed the Yazidi Survivors’ Law in 2021, marking the first recognition by the Iraqi government of the Yazidi genocide, following previous steps by the KRG in doing so.
Initially drafted to offer restitution solely to Yazidi women who disproportionately endured severe abuse in the hands of ISIS, the law passed applies to other ethnic and religious minorities, particularly Turkmen, Shabak, and Christians of both sexes.
The law applies to “every woman Yazidi survivor who was kidnapped by ISIS and later liberated, in addition to women and girls from the Turkmen, Christian and Shabak components who were subjected to the same crimes mentioned," reads the legislation, which also applies to men “who survived the mass killing.”
The law consists of a reparation program for the Yazidis and other minority group survivors of crimes committed by ISIS. However, in order to benefit from the program, victims need to file criminal complaints which come with tedious bureaucratic and administrative requirements. Due to this, the legislation has received criticism from various NGOs and rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Saeed Jardo, head of the Lalish Cultural and Heritage Center, called for a law to prohibit hate speech against religious groups in order to avoid the repetition of atrocities.
The requirement to file a criminal complaint “can cause stigma and re-traumatization and could delay or even hinder access to adequate, prompt and effective reparation,” the groups stated in a joint open letter in April.
UK Consul General to Erbil, Rosy Cave, at the conference spoke of the importance of gathering information and evidence to ensure justice is served and perpetrators are held accountable. “This needs to be done in a very sensitive way and survivor-center way” to ensure the victims are not re-traumatized when faced with the evidence, she said.
Yousra Mohsen, Director General of the Iraqi Women Empowerment Department, said the challenges the Iraqi federal government faced were regarding the “statistics of survivors, psychological rehabilitation for women, and training camp managers.”
The Iraqi government and KRG signed an agreement in 2020 to restore security in Shingal. Under the agreement, Iraq committed 28 billion IQD ($18 million) to the reconstruction fund of Shingal. The agreement is yet to be implemented.
As a part of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) “The Return” program in cooperation with Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC), a total of 87 Yazidi families in Duhok’s Sharia camp voluntarily returned to Shingal on Tuesday.
“Through this program, we are providing these families with an opportunity to visit their original places of residence,” Srwa Rasul, head of the JCC told Rudaw last week, adding that the center and KRG’s interior ministry will provide the people with financial and logistic aid until they settle back home.
