It is now 4 years since ISIS committed genocide on Yazidies in Kurdistan Iraq.
Survivors still live in refugee camps in the mountains, under terrible conditions. The world community fails this people again and again, and it does not look like there is any solution in sight.
I really hope that the international community will help restore Ezekian cities - otherwise they are at high risk of extinction as people within 3 generations!
"Yazidis wants to return to Sinjar but Isis destroyed everything. We want bright prospects for our children, but we can not have this unless Sinjar - the Yazidi homeland - has been rebuilt. Just now, Isis is regrouping in territories such as Libya.
Det ville være unfair å si at ingenting har forandret siden min flyktning. Mange regeringer har anerkendt Yazidi-genociden, som er en liten feat. En del begrænsede fremskridt på jorden har skett. Men der er et presserende behov for seriøs humanitær bistand. I do not want any more expressions of sympathy. I want world leaders to act. Benign neglect and indifference is unacceptable. "Nadia Murad
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https://www.ft.com/content/f28c4184-f823-11e8-af46-2022a0b02a6c?fbclid=IwAR34742_r8ONYzv7CvjsXxF6lUL2xDUKPTBXX12XeiZnTw20MOt2Ovy4XGk Nadia Murad: I survived Isis. Now I want to rebuild the Yazidi homeland
The Nobel Peace Prize winner on her campaign to rebuild Sinjar and resettle the Yazidi population
Nadia Murad © Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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Nadia Murad YESTERDAY Print this page1
Change can happen when one least expects it. I know this to be true because my life changed in an instant. One moment I was a farm girl, going to school in my village in northern Iraq and the next I was an Isis sex slave, “owned” by militants.
My peaceful existence was shattered simply because my religious beliefs were deemed sub-human by a group of men who believed they were superior. Isis murdered my family and took me captive, exposing me to horrors which would be impossible to imagine had I not endured every moment and felt each brutal blow.
My story is not unique. I am only one Yazidi woman. Isis’s terror rained down on all of us. It was not a slow drizzle but a thunderous storm that moved through my community, destroying everything. Make no mistake: Isis planned to exterminate the Yazidis. Isis planned a genocide.
When they came to my village, I don’t think anyone believed their intention was to eradicate all Yazidis from Iraq. I was a young girl, so perhaps the adults had a better sense of what was about to happen, but I think it is unlikely. Even today, I find myself pondering the reality of what happened. The hardest concept to grasp is that the world watched and did nothing.
The world understood the Yazidi community was under attack — I know this because I watched adults calling people in other countries. We saw news on the television before we were herded out of our homes like animals going to slaughter. Yet no one came to our rescue.
Yes, President Obama authorised air strikes against Isis, and helicopters dropped food aid on Mount Sinjar, but these acts did not stop the genocide. Looking back, I have concluded that no one felt direct responsibility to protect a small, persecuted minority from the wrath of Isis. And if you don’t feel responsible, then you don’t act.
I came from a large, loving family; there were 20 of us. We lived simply, but happily, and we got along with our neighbours who were not Yazidi. It is difficult for me to think of those happy times because I know my family will never be reunited — Isis killed my mother, six of my brothers and many of my nieces.
Deciding to tell my story was a difficult choice; no one wants to discuss such horrors publicly. I chose to speak because I believed the world needed to know the truth and I wanted justice. I wanted Isis held accountable. If we cannot achieve this, with all the evidence and our justice systems, then we are giving a green light to these groups.
At the time of my escape, I believed the world didn’t actually know the horrors of what was happening to my community. I thought that if they knew, leaders would act and the Yazidi would be rescued. Sadly, this isn’t the case.
Survival came with a purpose and an obligation. I have travelled the world to seek justice, pleading with global leaders to help the Yazidis who remain in dire need. My pleas have been met with expressions of sympathy but little action. More than 3,000 Yazidi women are still in captivity. More than 300,000 Yazidis live in squalor in refugee camps in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, without basic human necessities.
Yazidis want to return to Sinjar but Isis destroyed everything. We want bright prospects for our children but we can’t have this unless Sinjar — the Yazidi homeland — is rebuilt. Even now, Isis is regrouping in territories such as Libya.
It would be unfair to say that nothing has changed since my escape. Many governments have recognised the Yazidi genocide, which is no small feat. Some limited progress on the ground has occurred. But there is an urgent need for serious humanitarian assistance. I do not want any more expressions of sympathy. I want world leaders to act. Benign neglect and indifference is unacceptable.
Sometimes people ask me why I started Nadia’s Initiative. To create change, one must assume responsibility. My hope is that 2019 will bring comprehensive peace building to the region and life will begin to change for my people. I have learnt, however, that hope is dangerous. For years now, the Yazidis have only had hope: that the world would act, that they could return to their homeland, that they could have medical care and that their children would be educated. But hope has an expiration date.
I believe we can choose to protect hope — we can rebuild Sinjar and resettle the Yazidi population. This is not an insurmountable task, but to accomplish it we must look past what divides us. Let hope unite us. Let humanity unite us.
Change is possible and can happen in an instant. My hope is change in 2019 will right the wrong of 2014 — the year of the Yazidi genocide.
Nadia Murad was the joint winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize with Dr Denis Mukwege. Her book, ‘The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State’, is published by Virago
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