Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced during an event on July 2 that the KRG will provide monthly financial support for 3,000 Kurdish Yezidi women and girls who survived the Yezidi genocide perpetrated by ISIS in August 2014.
“This financial support project is a monthly donation to more than 3,000 Yezidi women who survived attacks and enslavement at the hands of ISIS. In an attempt to improve their financial situation, we will expand our assistance to these women,” he said.
“We will provide all the necessary support to ensure they have a decent life and to help heal a small part of their wounds, especially by improving access to job opportunities, education, and medical treatment.”
We’re committed to helping our Yazidi brothers and sisters recover from the ISIS genocide.
— Masrour Barzani (@masrourbarzani) July 2, 2024
Starting today, over 3,000 survivors will receive direct financial support.
We back their calls to normalize their ancestral homeland of Sinjar for a safe and dignified return home. pic.twitter.com/XYg5UO1qC9
The event came ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Yezidi genocide this August. The Yezidi genocide carried out by ISIS militants in August 2014 in Sinjar resulted in the deaths of thousands of Yezidi people.
Although Sinjar was liberated by Kurdish peshmerga forces in November 2015, thousands of women and girls are still missing.
“Although this year marks the tenth anniversary of the massacre in Sinjar and its surroundings, unfortunately, the suffering of the Yezidi people has not yet ended,” Prime Minister Barzani said at the event.
In October 2020, the Iraqi federal government and the KRG signed the Sinjar Agreement with support of the UN in order to stabilize the situation and remove militias in the Yezidi-majority region of Sinjar.
Read More: Sinjar Agreement Not Implemented: USCIRF
So far, the agreement has not been fully implemented and over 100,000 Yezidis remain displaced in internally displaced person (IDP) camps in the Kurdistan Region, which Baghdad wants to shut down by the end of July.
The KRG has underlined it will not force IDPs in camps in the Kurdistan Region to return to their areas of origin.
Read More: HRW Warns Against Kurdistan Camp Closures
“Ten years after this tragedy, the situation in Sinjar has not yet returned to normal. Due to the presence of militias and illegal armed groups, our Yezidi brothers and sisters remain in camps and have not been able to return to their homes,” Prime Minister Barzani said.
Prime Minister Barzani also thanked all countries that have officially recognized the crimes of ISIS against the Yezidi Kurds as genocide. “We hope that the international community will help us alleviate the suffering of our Yezidi brothers and sisters and return the refugees to their homes with pride and freedom.”
Photos: Sabr Salih
