Country: Iraq
Group: Yezidis
Date Finalized: 03/23/2021
Team: Alicia Hernandez (lead), Johanna McCombs, Ann Thomas, Hannah Goldman
Content Warning: religious persecution; enslavement; lethal violence; sexual assault; torture
Approximate Time Period: 2014-present
The Yezidi are a religious ethnic group located in Iraq. Since their religious practices differ from the dominant religion in Iraq, they were perceived as devil worshipers (Minority Rights Group, n.d.). Although this belief spread as early as the 2000s, the Yezidis were targeted in August of 2014 due to the advancement of ISIS into Sinjar. Most of the Yezidi population were displaced, captured, killed, or enslaved. Thousands of Yezidi women were transported to Syria and forced into marriages or sex work. The Yezidi remain displaced in Iraqi Kurdistan camps and informal settlements. Many struggle with post-trauma from experiences of rape, torture, brutal violence, and forced conversions. Since 2014, approximately 120,000 Yezidis have sought asylum in Europe from the ISIS genocide (Minority Rights Group, n.d.). Children and men who were forcibly taken to fight for ISIS require counseling and rehabilitation in order to return to Yezidi society (Minority Rights Group, n.d.). Around 3,100 Yezidis were killed, 6,800 kidnapped, and an estimated 200,000 Yezidis fled (Minority Rights Group, n.d.). The Kurdish Peshmerga forces that once protected the Yezidi area withdrew, leaving 200,000 people to flee to other areas-before the ISIS advanced, there were approximately 500,000 in Sinjar, Iraq (Minority Rights Group, n.d.).
The Yezidi were forced to flee Sinjar due to mistreatment and torture from ISIS. The data quality is rated a 2 because the information is detailed and reliable, but only one source was found.
Source
- Yezidis. (n.d.). Minority Rights Group. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/yezidis/