UN calls for implementing Sinjar Agreement on 8th anniversary of Yezidi Genocide

The UN brokered the agreement. 
Displaced Yezidis are pictured at camp for internally displaced persons in the city of Zakho in Duhok province, May 5, 2022. (Photo: Safin Hamed/AFP)
Displaced Yezidis are pictured at camp for internally displaced persons in the city of Zakho in Duhok province, May 5, 2022. (Photo: Safin Hamed/AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The United Nations called for the full implementation of the Sinjar Agreement to normalize the situation in the Yezidi town "without any delay" on Wednesday, the eighth anniversary of the Yezidi Genocide.

In early October 2020, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its Iraqi counterpart signed the agreement to stabilize the security and administration situation in Sinjar so Yezidis could resettle there.

The UN brokered the agreement. 

However, the continued presence of armed groups in the area has hindered the deal's implementation. 

"No Yezidi, nor any other Iraqi, should be a pawn in local or regional power competition," read a statement from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Wednesday. 

The agreement must be "fully implemented, without further delay," it added. 

In a statement on Wednesday, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called for the agreement's implementation. 

Attending a ceremony held to commemorate the tragedy in Duhok, President Nechirvan Barzani stressed the importance of implementing the deal and removing "illegitimate forces" from the area.

At least 2,000 Yezidis remain missing eight years after ISIS launched its brutal genocide. A significant portion of the community still lives in displaced person camps in the Kurdistan Region, which has been hosting them since 2014.