Fight for the Yazidi people, as Muslims and leaders

Nine years into an ongoing genocide, the Yazidi people continue to fight for their survival and rights in Sinjar.

There is ample evidence that both the Central Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government are failing this historic minority community. Both governments co-authored and co-signed the Sinjar Agreement, a blueprint meant to resolve the disputed status of Sinjar and pave the way for security, community representation in local governance and law enforcement, and a long-term reconstruction and recovery strategy. However, no minority community was included in consultations and negotiations, so no wonder it failed to include key community needs and no wonder it has failed in both spirit and implementation.

Both governments have also not upheld their commitments to safely and sustainably close the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps that at one point had over 350,000 Yazidis waiting and waiting for life to recommence after Da’esh invaded their homeland, pillaged their villages, killed their men, sexually enslaved their women and girls, and kidnapped and indoctrinated their young boys. Today, the Yazidis are the only minority community still significantly displaced.

Broken promises later, some Yazidi families have attempted to return to their homes in Sinjar. Photos and videos of long convoys should be a sight of joy that the long wait is finally over. However, these families have returned because after waiting for both governments to provide services and security to make any return safe and sustainable, they were told these services could not be provided without a critical mass of returnees. Now, families are back but once again waiting. If the wait is too long, they will be re-displaced back to the camps as many have in earlier returnee waves.

Back home, Yazidi families are once again surrounded with neighbors they cannot trust. Both the Central Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government have not provided any political or cultural mechanisms for reconciliation and reintegration. Where there is fear for the other, there is grounds for undue hate. And where there is no rule of law, like in Sinjar, there is open grounds for hatred to become violent and dangerous. Yazidi survivors and advocates are calling out crimes of hate speech that are flagrant on the internet and in their daily lives. So far, there has been no meaningful response from either government to stand by and protect their Yazidi citizens.

All these accumulated and chronic challenges mean the conditions for genocide are riper than ever before. The Yazidi people had especially been targeted for extermination by Da’esh given their historic political, economic, and social vulnerabilities in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. They had no voice and no political allies to protect them. This August 3, nine years since the genocide began, is a reminder of the days that the Yazidi people waited on the hillsides of the Sinjar Mountains to be rescued and saved. The wait was too long; children and elderly starved to death, and then no one came. So Da’esh arrived unchallenged and able to kidnap and kill.

But the wait is more than local, it is also regional. To date, not one Muslim and Middle Eastern government or parliament has recognized the Yazidi Genocide. Without this solidarity, there is no political or religious precedence to safeguard the Yazidis.

The Yazidis should no longer wait for protection and solidarity. It is time for leadership and solidarity to step up in the Middle East, Iraq, and Kurdistan Region for this historic peaceful and exceptional community. Governments and leaders must not be complicit in the permanent removal of the Yazidis from Sinjar and the Middle East. If they are, they will complete the work Da’esh failed to finish.