The third of August, marks ten years since the start of ISIS attacks in Sinjar, signaling the beginning of its terrorist campaign against the Yazidi population.
The Yazidi people are a Kurdish speaking minority whose homeland is in Sinjar, northern Iraq. They have long faced marginalization and persecution. When fighters arrived in the region in 2014, ISIS devastated the lives of thousands, forcing many others to flee up Mount Sinjar for safety. Many perished there without food, water, or medical care.
Walking through Sinjar today, you would find the city in ruins.
This campaign resulted in the killing of 5,000 Yazidis and the kidnapping of 7,000 others. More than 2,700 people are still missing – either held in captivity, or their whereabouts unknown. Approximately 200,000 Yazidis continue to live displaced across the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Return rates to Sinjar are currently among the lowest in the country because of lack of infrastructure, basic services, or shelter.
Nariman, our Head of Programs in Kurdistan, reflected on this anniversary,
“When I think about the Yazidi genocide, I feel broken. I feel sorry. We never hurt anyone around us. We wanted peace in the world, and we prayed for that daily. We didn’t deserve what happened.”
Among the many challenges faced by the Yazidis is the difficulty in recovering from the psychological trauma caused by mass executions, forced conversions, kidnappings, sexual violence, and other heinous acts committed by ISIS in their effort to destroy the Yazidi community.
“When I was student, I used to go to the library in my spare time and read books about the history of the Yazidi people. I would read about previous genocides and would find it hard to believe. Things like that could not happen, it seemed impossible! But when ISIS attacked, I became sure that all was true because now I was seeing it with my own eyes.”
In 2016, in response to these horrific events, Tutapona’s first office in the Middle East was opened in Kurdistan to provide mental health programming, and trauma rehabilitation services in the region.
We have been serving there for the past 8 years to help the survivors of this conflict find emotional healing, working in various locations with returned kidnap victims, and those who fled Sinjar.
Nariman continued,
“Tutapona’s work came right on time for people here. It has been a gift for people in need. They were broken and lonely, but these programs gave them a place to express their pain. By letting that out from inside them, they learned how to overcome.”
The world must continue to support the Yazidi people in their quest for the return of the missing, and for justice. Let this anniversary serve as a reminder of the importance of vigilance against hatred and a commitment to protecting the rights and dignity of all peoples.
“This anniversary will bring up all the old feelings in within me, and all Yazidis. The wound is still present. We are still missing people, and their fates are unknown. We are still grieving, and still in our minds, we wonder, ‘Can this happen again?’ But my faith in God is strong. I know He will protect us as He did before.”