Ten years after the genocide of the Yazidis: Germany must promote holistic support

Berlin, July 18, 2024 – On August 3, 2014, the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) attacked the Sinjar region in Iraq. IS directly killed 5,000 Yazidis and displaced 400,000; almost 7,000 women and children were abducted. To this day, around 200,000 people live in official and unofficial camps in northern Iraq. Despite recognizable progress, there is no sustainable and holistic reparation concept for the survivors of the genocide. On the contrary: the Iraqi government wants to close the camps. At the same time, the central government in Baghdad is doing too little to investigate the IS crimes and implement the Yazidi [Female] Survivors Law (YSL).

The Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights calls for Germany to focus on holistic support for survivors in its Iraq policy. The foundation is supporting the actual implementation of the law in a coalition of NGOs (Coalition for Just Reparations, C4JR) and promotes ethical engagement with the survivors. A guide to this was recently published.

“When the YSL was adopted in 2020, it was considered a milestone for addressing conflict-related sexualized violence. The YSL guide assesses Iraq’s reparation measures and aims to ensure that survivors have access to holistic and high-quality rehabilitation measures,” says Bojan Gavrilovic, Head of the Law and Justice Program at the Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights, who is regularly on site. The foundation offers survivors psychological, medical, social and legal support. “The German government should promote the consistent implementation of the YSL in its Iraq policy. Our publications can serve as a guide for the German government.” 

“The trauma suffered by survivors as a result of IS terror and violence is omnipresent. Justice plays an important role in overcoming trauma. The survivors have a right to compensation under international law. This includes, among other things, a right to rehabilitation,” says Salah Ahmad, psychotherapist and founder of the Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights. The YSL includes not only legal processing and financial support, but also holistic rehabilitation through psychological and medical support, the provision of land and accommodation as well as education and vocational training. Ahmad is also calling for a nationwide ban on the deportation of Yazidis.