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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Japan has donated $3.6 million to support the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Yezidi homeland of Shingal, also known as Sinjar, with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).
The money will “support reconstruction and peacebuilding in Iraq through the rehabilitation of war-damaged houses and construction of low-cost housing units”, read a UN-Habitat statement.
The project will focus on the “rehabilitation of public spaces and infrastructure ... [and] construction of low-cost housing units to accommodate returnees whose houses are totally destroyed and have not received any support for rehabilitation or reconstruction of their houses.”
It will also prioritize vocational training to stimulate the local job market. “Graduates of the vocational training will be employed for rehabilitation and construction activities implemented by UN-Habitat, which will contribute to rebuilding their livelihoods,” the statement added.
On August 3, 2014, Islamic State (ISIS) militias seized vast areas of Iraq and Syria, including Shingal – homeland of the Yezidis, an ethnoreligious minority viewed by ISIS as devil worshippers.
Thousands of Shingal’s men and boys were executed and buried in mass graves while women and children were abducted and sold into sexual slavery, forced to convert to Islam, or recruited as child soldiers.
Shingal was liberated in November 2015. However, fifteen months of combat had leveled much of its urban center, which was laced with explosives.
“With this package, the total amount of Japan’s assistance to the people affected by the crisis reaches $540 million since 2014,” Hashimoto Naofumi, Japan’s ambassador to Iraq, said in a statement.
“I hope that the assistance from the Government and people of Japan will help rebuild livelihoods of affected communities through rehabilitating community infrastructure and housing units,” he added.
Of the 550,000 Yezidis in Iraq prior to the ISIS war, at least a third have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain displaced to camps in the Kurdistan Region.
Teams in Iraq supported by the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIS (UNITAD) continue to search for mass graves, primarily around Mosul and Shingal.
In December last year, the Netherlands contributed $3.5 million to clear mines laid by ISIS since 2014, particularly in the Shingal district.
The area remains riddled with mines and other explosive debris five years since ISIS was forced out of the district.
In mid-2019, Lalish Temple, the spiritual home of the Yezidi minority in Duhok, received a $500,000 grant from the US government to fund its restoration.
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