Yazidis register to claim government compensation for missing, dead relatives

SHINGAL, Iraq – The Iraqi government is compensating relatives of Yazidi victims of the Islamic State (ISIS), but many family members say the process is difficult, and in some cases, impossible. 

The Iraqi Martyr's Foundation opened an office in Shingal two weeks ago, and has so far accepted more than 200 cases of Yazidis killed by ISIS.

Families of the dead and missing will receive a monthly salary of 1,200,000 dinars ($822), and the injured will also receive money from the government. 

But registration requires identification documents, which many do not have. 

Zozan Qasim has spent nearly two million dinars ($1,370) trying to get a new ID card for her husband, who has been missing since 2014. 

"There are problems at Iraqi institutions, they don't issue us documents. I've spent a lot of money on it. I have also hired a lawyer but to no avail," she told Rudaw.

"I have come here six times now. They don’t do anything for us. God knows how many times I will have to go back," whose daughter Base Salih is missing. 

The ethnoreligious minority was especially targeted by the terror group, who launched a genocide against the Yazidis as they took over northern Iraq in the summer of 2014. Thousands were killed, abducted and enslaved by the militants. 

More than 2,000 people remain missing. 

"A total of 104 cases of Kocho victims have been registered. 100 others are missing people and others are martyrs. For the martyrs and the missing, 1,200,000 dinars ($822) will be paid. For the injured, it depends on a person's condition. Levels one to 29 are paid 500,000 dinars ($342)," said Sahir Taha, head of the Martyrs Foundation office in Shingal. 

Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed