Yezidis call for mission to find missing women on 7th anniversary of genocide

“It is incomprehensible that so many Yezidi abductees could remain missing and ignored seven years later.”

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2021/08/02 16:45

In August 2014, thousands of Yezidis were trapped in the Shingal mountains as they tried to escape from the so-called Islamic State. (Photo: Anadolu Agency/Emrah Yorulmaz)

Middle East Yezidis Iraq Syria ISIS Turkey

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Marking the seventh anniversary of the Ezidi (Yezidi) genocide, in which thousands of people were brutally murdered, kidnapped, and trafficked at the hands of ISIS, Yezidi activists on Monday called on the international community to help bring missing Yezidi girls back home.

“I have a message on behalf of the Yezidi women and girls who are still held in captivity: They are held in ISIS captivity today, mostly in Syria, Turkey, and Iraq,” Pari Ibrahim, the Founder and Executive Director of the Free Yezidi Foundation (FYF), said during the Free Yezidi Foundation’s panel on the Seven-Year Commemoration of the Yezidi Genocide.

“While efforts continue to identify and rescue them, progress is slow...We will never give up searching for them. And today, we are calling on the world to craft a serious plan to bring back our Yezidi women and girls,” she said.

“It has been seven years since they were abducted... It [has been] long enough. The world must help us bring them home.”

The multi-national organization Yazda, in a press statement, proposed the formation of a national security team, with the involvement of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, “to search for the fate of an estimated 2,950 Yazidi women and children who are still missing and are believed to still be held in ISIL (ISIS) captivity.”

In its latest press release, FYF said around 2,868 Yezidis were still missing as of May 2021.

“It is incomprehensible that so many Yezidi abductees could remain missing and ignored seven years later. Sadly, we know that some were murdered by Daesh (ISIS) or died by suicide,” the Free Yezidi Foundation said.

“They are likely suffering to this day in the hands of Daesh (ISIS) members or associates in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, or further afield. This is an abomination.”

The FYF called upon the anti-ISIS coalition, the Iraqi Government, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria (AANES), Interpol, UNITAD, UNAMI, and other powerful entities “to craft a plan and mount a serious effort to locate Yezidi abductees who are still alive and suffering.”

“With the intelligence and logistical assets currently available, progress can be achieved. Let’s bring back Yezidi women and girls.”

Last month, a Yezidi woman, Zeri Matto Shivan, was found in the Deir al-Zor province in Syria and returned to her family in Sinjar (Shingal). In early January, two Yezidi survivors, Assimah Jassem Khedr and Najla Saeed Ismail, were found by local authorities in Syria.

Yezidi leaders have in the past appealed to Western diplomats, asking the international community to do more to rescue the hundreds of Yezidi women and children who are still missing.