Yazidi MP Urges Probe Into Cancer Outbreak in Displacement Camps

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a press conference that laid bare the profound and ongoing suffering of the Yazidi community, Yazidi Member of Iraq's Parliament Mahama Khalil Ali Agha has demanded a formal apology from the Iraqi government for more than a decade of neglect, a failure he directly links to the catastrophic humanitarian conditions in displacement camps, including an alarming and unexplained spread of cancer among their inhabitants.

Speaking from within the Iraqi Council of Representatives on Tuesday, the Yazidi MP framed the dire situation as a direct consequence of the government's failure to normalize the situation in Sinjar and facilitate the dignified return of its people, a process that has been stalled for years despite the existence of the Sinjar Agreement and repeated commitments from Baghdad.

Khalil began his address, immediately detailing a grave and emerging public health crisis that he had witnessed during his own field tours of the camps.

"We witnessed a strange situation: the spread of cancer in the camps and in all Iraqi provinces," he stated, a crisis that is unfolding more than ten years after the liberation of Sinjar from the "ISIS gangs."

He described the suffering of the people of Sinjar as a "bleeding wound for all Iraqis," a wound that is now being compounded by disease. He attributed the spike in cancer cases to the dire living conditions and the poor quality of aid provided to the displaced.

"We believe these diseases are due to the poor-quality materials and logistics that were distributed without [meeting] health conditions and without quality control of the materials," he asserted.

MP Khalil squarely placed the blame for this protracted humanitarian disaster on the shoulders of the federal government, accusing it of a "clear shortcoming" in fulfilling its constitutional and legal obligations.

He pointed specifically to the commitments made by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's government to facilitate a "blessed return of the displaced to their areas and the normalization of the situation."

"But unfortunately," he lamented, "despite the existence of these constitutional articles and the commitment in the governmental program, it remained ink on paper."

This failure, he argued, necessitates a formal act of contrition from the state. "Therefore, we demand that Mr. al-Sudani, the government, and the ministerial team apologize to the Yazidi religious component and apologize to the displaced for the passing of more than ten years while the humanitarian suffering, poor health conditions, and lack of logistics provision continue," Khalil declared.

His demands were specific and action-oriented. He called for the state to immediately open an investigation into the cause of the cancer spread, not only in the camps but across all Iraqi provinces, and to establish mobile hospitals and teams for the early detection of the disease.

He also demanded a separate investigation into the logistical materials supplied to the displaced by the Ministry of Migration and Displaced, insisting on a thorough review of "their sources, quality, the safety of their delivery, and their grade" to ensure they meet safety standards.

Ultimately, MP Khalil's plea was for the government to move beyond empty promises and to finally implement the only viable path to resolving the crisis: the full normalization of Sinjar.

"We demand that Mr. al-Sudani adhere to the constitutional rights guaranteed by the Iraqi constitution, adhere to the ministerial program, and direct the state's effort in the areas of western Nineveh, especially the Sinjar district, to normalize the situation for the purpose of a blessed return for the displaced, stability, and the closure of the displacement camps, which have been open for 11 years now," he concluded.

The MP's statement gives a powerful voice to the deep and growing frustration over the perpetual limbo in which the Yazidi community has been trapped. The root of this limbo, as has been repeatedly stated by Kurdish, Iraqi, and international officials, is the failure to implement the Sinjar Agreement.

Signed on Oct. 9, 2020, between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government in Baghdad, with the support of the United Nations, the agreement was designed to be a comprehensive roadmap for restoring stability to the war-torn region.

As previously reported by Kurdistan24, it includes provisions for normalizing the administration, security, and reconstruction of the area, all with the ultimate goal of facilitating the safe and dignified return of the hundreds of thousands of Yazidis who remain in displacement camps.

However, more than ten years after its signing, the agreement remains largely "ink on paper," as Khalil described it.

The primary obstacle to its implementation has been the continued presence of a complex and competing array of armed groups, including factions such as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which have prevented the establishment of a legitimate local administration and a unified security force under state control.

This has turned Sinjar into a contested zone, hindering reconstruction efforts and leaving much of the city in uninhabitable rubble.

On the 11th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide in August, both Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein issued powerful calls for the agreement's full implementation.

Prime Minister Barzani stated that a dignified return for the Yazidis requires "the withdrawal of armed forces and militias from the area, and the restoration of peace and security."

Minister Hussein was equally blunt, warning that "neglecting the agreement prolongs instability in Sinjar and hinders the return of displaced persons to their homes."

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the United States have also consistently and publicly called for the agreement's swift implementation as the only path to a durable solution.

As the political and security stalemate persists, the human cost continues to mount. The "bleeding wounds" of the 2014 genocide, a crime that President Masoud Barzani has described as an "extension of the series of catastrophes" committed against the Kurdish people, are being exacerbated by the daily indignities and dangers of life in the camps.

The emergence of a new and terrifying threat in the form of a cancer spike adds a new and horrific layer to this suffering, transforming the camps from places of temporary refuge into potential incubators of disease.

MP Khalil's demand for an apology and for action is not merely a political statement; it is a desperate plea for an end to a protracted tragedy and a call for the restoration of basic human dignity for a people who have already endured the unthinkable.