NADA Alliance calls on Iraq to recognize Yazidi genocide, hold perpetrators accountable

The NADA Alliance (Democratic Women’s Alliance in the Middle East and North Africa) issued a statement today commemorating the victims of the genocide committed by ISIS against the Yazidi community in Shengal, whose anniversary falls on August 3 each year. The statement read:

“From Sinjar to the world—An ongoing genocide and justice without statute of limitations: Toward comprehensive international recognition and genuine accountability for the crimes of genocide against Yazidis.

On August 3, 2014, the world witnessed one of the most horrific humanitarian chapters of the modern era, when the terrorist organization ISIS committed a systematic genocide against the Yazidi community, claiming thousands of lives and particularly targeting Yazidi women.

This crime was not merely a passing military attack, but a genocidal campaign against humanity, carried out through ‘femicide,’ targeting women in an attempt to erase the Yazidi community. Women were sold in slave markets and subjected to the most horrific forms of rape and psychological and physical violence, while tens of thousands were displaced, villages and towns were destroyed, and sacred sites were erased.

Twelve years later, the wounds of the Yazidi community remain wide open. Thousands of families are still awaiting news of their missing relatives, while survivors continue to face difficult humanitarian conditions amid international, regional and local failures to assume moral, legal and historical responsibilities.

Specialized UN, European and international reports, including those issued by the United Nations and human rights bodies, have recognized that what happened in Sinjar in 2014 meets all the criteria of genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

To date, 19 countries have officially recognized this crime as genocide, along with numerous international institutions and bodies. However, Iraq — the country where the crime took place — continues to hesitate in granting full and effective recognition, a failure that reinforces a culture of impunity, prevents transitional justice, and leaves an open wound in the conscience of the Yazidi community.

The genocide did not end with the defeat of ISIS, but continues in new and systematic forms, including:

- Absence of justice: The continued failure to prosecute perpetrators of crimes despite available evidence, testimonies and mass graves, which renews trauma and deepens suffering.

- Concealment of the fate of missing persons: More than 2,700 Yazidis, mostly women and children, remain missing, with no disclosure of their fate and no permanent national body seriously following up on the issue. Their families continue to live with daily and ongoing pain while lacking legal, psychological and social support.

- Continued displacement and depopulation of Sinjar: Tens of thousands of families remain in displacement camps, with no comprehensive plan for reconstruction or safe, voluntary and dignified return.

- Marginalization: Survivors continue to suffer from insufficient care and the failure to fully implement laws related to them, including the Yazidi Survivors Law No. 8 of 2021. Bureaucratic obstacles to its implementation remain unresolved, while activists working on genocide-related issues face threats and harassment.

The genocide against Yazidis was not the result of a single moment, but rather the outcome of a long historical accumulation of hate speech, sectarian incitement, political and social marginalization, patriarchal oppression, male-dominated authorities and extremist religious interpretations, alongside prolonged societal silence and continued impunity. Unless these factors are fundamentally dismantled and addressed, the risk of the tragedy recurring will remain, even in different forms and through different means.

The violence against Yazidi women, particularly targeting them as an existential and symbolic element of the community, reflects a broader societal crisis in dealing with women, identities and diversity, and confirms that protecting women and protecting threatened communities are two sides of the same coin.

We called on Iraqi authorities, national and regional forces, the international community, UN bodies, the European Union, human rights organizations and media institutions to respond seriously and responsibly to the call and work immediately to achieve the following demands:

1. Fully and unconditionally recognize the genocide against Yazidis as genocide.

2. Activate and expand the Yazidi Survivors Law, remove all bureaucratic and administrative obstacles to its implementation, ensure all survivors receive their entitled compensation and psychological, health, social and legal support, and combat impunity through transitional justice mechanisms and national and international trials.

3. Reveal the fate of missing persons by forming a permanent specialized national committee in coordination with the United Nations, international organizations and relevant authorities.

4. Open mass graves and ensure justice for victims by documenting all mass graves, exhuming remains, identifying victims and burying them in a manner befitting them.

5. Launch a comprehensive and funded plan for the reconstruction of Shengal (Sinjar) and affected areas and ensure safe returns.

6. Hold all perpetrators and those involved in the genocide against Yazidis accountable, inside and outside Iraq, and prevent any attempts to exonerate criminals or conceal their crimes.

The resilience of the Yazidi community today and their refusal to abandon their cause, despite all challenges, is a victory of human will over injustice and terrorism. We raise our voices to affirm that this issue is the cause of every free person who believes in justice and dignity. We will not remain silent until justice is restored to its rightful owners and the pages of oppression are closed, so that no woman or community suffers what the Yazidi women endured.”

A-H 

ANHA