We will accept ‘all’ Yezidis return in the community: Top spiritual council

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Yezidi Supreme Spiritual Council announced on Wednesday they were ready to embrace "all" rescued Yezidis who had been kidnapped by the Islamic State (ISIS), while implying that children born to mothers because of rape by the extremists also would be accepted.

The council released a statement on Wednesday "for the return of all the Daesh survivors as we consider what happened to them outside of their will." 

The four-point statement is signed by Hazim Tahseen Saadi, the council’s deputy head. The council is the highest Yezidi religious body.

The statement read that the Yezidi community would deal with its rescued in a "humane and transparent" way with honor.

The statement, however, does not explicitly specify if they will accept children born out of rape.

Murad Ismael, a Yezidi activist and the head of the non-governmental organization Yazda, acknowledged that the statement does not explicitly use the word “rape.”

“… the decree states that we welcome all female survivors and their children, while it does not specify "children born out of rape", it is meant to address this specific situation …” he tweeted. 

In the ethno-religious Yezidi group all marriages, and thus conceptions, must occur within the community.

“Yazidi mythology says that they were created quite separately from the rest of humankind, being descended from Adam but not from Eve, and as such they seek to keep themselves segregated from the people among whom they live. Marriage outside the community is forbidden,” reads the Encyclopedia Britannica. 

Ismael confirmed in another tweet: “It is important to understand that this is a stretch for the basis of Yazidi faith where the religion is passed through bloodline of both parents...” 

Faris Kiti, a member of the council told Rudaw "they have no problems" with children born from rape, "but there are legal issues that have to be addressed.

"We have no problem with a woman wanting to raise her child [born because of an ISIS militant]. We have to resolve the legal side of the matter as well.”

Earlier this month, the Yezidi council sent a delegation to Syria to look for Yezidis who had escaped the last sliver of ISIS territory around al-Baghouz. After their return, the delegation announced they discovered 40 Yezidi women and children who will soon rejoin their relatives in the Kurdistan Region. 

On March 23, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the territorial defeat ISIS in the Middle Euphrates River Valley. Tens of thousands of ISIS militants and their families as well as many Yezidis poured out of the group’s last holdout in eastern Deir ez-Zor governorate.

In an interview with Rudaw on April 6, Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) spokesman Nouri Mahmoud said: "...many Yezidi children who are among the Daesh families at the camps are denying their identity. We are doing our best to approach them and to convince them to reveal their identity.” 

Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have a shortage of psychosocial facilitators. The Yezidi community heavily relies on private donations and non-governmental organizations to fill the gap.

"We are calling on the international community to assist us in the rehabilitation of the survivors through launching special programs for them," the spiritual council's statement added.

According to the most updated data from the Yezidi Affairs Office from the KRG Ministry Religion and Endowment, of 6,417 Yezidis kidnapped by ISIS during their brutal campaign of the takeover of Shingal in August 2014, the fates of 2,992 are still unclear.

A large number have been rescued through smugglers paying ransoms for their release.