Yezidi IDPs demand resignation of Iraqi Migration minister
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Yezidi Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Sinjar in a press conference on Thursday demanded the resignation of Evan Faek Gabro, the minister of Displacement and Migration in Iraq.
They said that they had been living in camps in the Kurdistan Region for nearly 10 years. “In spite of the fact that the Iraqi government was legally and morally required to support us in every way, we have not received any support from it.”
They also stated that the Iraqi Displacement and Migration minister is pressuring them to return to their homes without providing them with any basic needs.
Other demands of Yezidi IDPs were: the implementation of the Sinjar agreement, Compensation for the damage caused to Sinjar by the terrorist attack, the reconstruction of Sinjar and its surrounding villages, providing basic services to the region, the recognition of the Yezidi genocide, and the evacuation of militias and outlawed groups from Sinjar.
In Aug. 2014, ISIS militants attacked the Yezidi-majority town of Sinjar and nearby villages, killing at least 5,000 Yezidis as well as enslaving about 6,000 women and minors. Around 400,000 others were displaced by the offensive.
Most of the religious community fled to the Kurdistan Region, while others resettled in neighboring countries or Western states.
Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone, where they experienced atrocities and mass executions at the hands of the extremist group for years. Militants subjected women and girls to sexual slavery and human trafficking kidnapped children, forced religious conversions, and executed scores of men.
Over the nine years since then, much of Sinjar remains in rubble, and very few of its former residents have returned to their homes.
The Kurdish-Kurmanji-speaking community has suffered at least 72 genocides.
European countries, including Germany, have hosted a significant number of Yezidis fleeing violence. Nearly 10,000 Yezidis were killed or kidnapped by ISIS.
The United Nations later recognized the atrocities against the Yazidi people as genocide.
More than 3,500 Yezidis have been rescued so far, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government.