Country: Iraq

Group: Yazidi

Date Finalized: 11/02/22

Team: Esha Kubavat (lead), Vianney Mancilla, Zaida Arellano Reyes, Austyn Evans, Jhanz Garcia

Content Warning: Genocide, Lethal violence

Approximate Time Period: 2003-present

            The Yazidi are a religious ethnic minority in Iraq with roots dating back nearly 4,000 years. They are a polytheist group who consider themselves Yazidi as a distinct ethnicity. The Yazidi follow Yezidism, a religion that centers around the idea that a fallen angel who was forgiven by God was sent to Earth to govern in God’s place (Kolstad, 2018). The Yazidi are a closed community that do not allow marriage into or outside of the group. They are herdsmen primarily in the mountainous regions of Iraq. Before the movement of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) into Iraq, the Yazidi population numbered 500,000. Historically, they have been subjected to persecution for their religious beliefs and practices (Minority Rights Group, 2017).

The Yazidi minority has consistently faced violence and discrimination since the time of the Ottoman Empire. The Yazidi faced devastating assaults from the Ottoman troops because of their religious beliefs. More recently, in 2003, Muslim nationalists in Iraq targeted the Yazidi for their “devil-worshipping” religious beliefs. Between 2003 and 2007, Muslim extremists killed a total of 335 Yazidi people either by direct or in-direct violence (Minority Rights Group, 2017). In 2014, ISIS enslaved and killed between 3,000 and 9,900 Yazidi people during the peak of their regime. During this time, ISIS leaders cited a religious ruling by the ISIS religious scholars on the validity of enslaving Yazidi women. The ISIS religious scholars believed that because the Yazidi women were polytheists and were not a protected group, their enslavement was permitted. ISIS threatened these women to either convert to Islam or face execution (Al-Dayel et al., 2020). Violence against the Yazidi has been widespread and consistent for many years.

ISIS decimated the Yazidi people in their genocide. Many Yazidi people still face intense trauma from their experiences of enslavement in ISIS camps. ISIS still holds an estimated 3,700 Yazidi people in captivity. The Yazidi face persistent trauma because they are reminded of it by the captivity of their family members. ISIS also indoctrinated many Yazidi youths, making it difficult for them to assimilate back into their community. Few Yazidi have returned to their homeland of Sinjar. Many Yazidi choose to seek asylum instead of returning to their homes, as they do not trust the current government (Minority Rights Group, 2017). In 2021, approximately 200,000 Yazidi remained displaced from their homes (Walker and Loft, 2022).

Data Quality: The data quality for the Yazidi lethal violence is rated 3 because of the amount of evidence and the inclusion of peer-reviewed academic journals.

Sources

  1. Al-Dayel, N., Mumford, A., and Bales, K. (2020). Not Yet Dead: The Establishment and Regulation of Slavery by the Islamic State, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. Taylor and Francis Group LLC.  Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1711590
  2. Minority Rights Group International. (2017). Yezidi. Minority Rights Group International. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/yezidis/
  3. Kolstad, K. (2018). 5 things you should know about the Yezidis. Norwegian Refugee Council. Retrieved November 16, 2022 from https://www.nrc.no/news/2018/december/five-things-you-should-know-about-the-yazidis/
  4. Walker, N., Loft, P., (2022). Atrocities against the Yazidi religious community. UK Parliament. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2022-0027/