Statement by the Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights, C4JR member organization
The Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights extends its condolences to the Yazidi communities on the occasion of remembering Yazidi genocide. Six years ago, today, the people of Yazidi faith in Sinjar once again became victims of religious persecution. A genocide that killed thousands and left in its wake a catastrophe of enslavement, sexual violence and cultural destruction drove close to 400,000 from their homes.
Today, six years later, while Daesh and most perpetrators lay low, the humanitarian disaster has yet to be appropriately addressed and the justice is nowhere to be seen. Today, more than a third of the victims still live in camps and under similarly precarious circumstances. Today must not just be a day of remembrance, the Yazidi live, today must also be a day to commit to improving their present and their futures.
The child soldiers remain vulnerable and must be supported and reintegrated
With international aid, we at the Jiyan Foundation try our best to aid the survivors by providing psychotherapy and other services. We have initiated and carried out programs that established a health clinic for the former abductees and survivors of slavery, especially women, and provided psychotherapy, offered regular therapy in our centers in Al-Qosh, Duhok and Sulaymaniyah. But much remains undone, especially child soldiers remain vulnerable and must be supported and reintegrated. We call on the Kurdish Regional Government, the Iraqi government and the international community to redouble their efforts. Many more years of social, medical, psychological and legal support are needed, but equally important, the Yazidi must be aided in returning to their lands, their safety secured and their access to legal remedies improved.
We hope this day of remembrance of the genocide committed against the Yazidi strengthens the commitment to the survivors, to justice and a future where minorities are protected from such atrocities.
