On August 3, the 10th anniversary of the Yezidi Genocide was commemated during an event in Erbil and Sinjar. Despite the passage of 10 years, thousands of Yezidi survivors from Sinjar continue to be displaced in camps in the Kurdistan Region, not able to return home.
Read More: Iraqi Government Forms Task Force to Solve IDP Issue: Interior Minister
The Iraqi federal government had previously issued a deadline to close all internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Iraq by July 30. However, in July the Iraqi government extended the deadline and established a new task force with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to solve the issue.
In a statement on the 10th anniversary of the Yezidi Genocide KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani underlined the importance of the implementation of the 2020 Sinjar Agreement “to restore peace and security to the region and place the protection and administration of the area in the hands of the rightful people of Sinjar.”
03/08/2014
— Masrour Barzani (@masrourbarzani) August 3, 2024
We will never forget.
We will continue to help our Yazidi brothers and sisters in their recovery and return to their ancestral home of Sinjar. pic.twitter.com/dAgPSHXk6Q
In October 2020, Baghdad and Erbil signed the Sinjar Agreement with support of the UN in order to facilitate the return of displaced Yezidis. However, the agreement has yet not been implemented and militias continue to operate in Sinjar.
Prime Minister Barzani underlined that the KRG is committed to continuing its efforts, in cooperation with the federal government, to stabilize the dire situation in Sinjar and its surroundings and work toward the reconstruction of the area.
“This is to facilitate the honorable return of our displaced Yezidi sisters and brothers to their homes.”
“Today marks 10 years since the genocide of our Yezidi sisters and brothers in Sinjar and its surroundings, which resulted from the brutal attacks and atrocities committed by ISIS terrorists. Thousands of residents of the Sinjar region were massacred, and tens of thousands more were displaced and left homeless.”
“Although 10 years have passed since this atrocity, the suffering, pain, and hardships of our Yezidi sisters and brothers have not ended. Many of them are still displaced and, due to the unlawful actions of militias and armed groups, the situation in Sinjar has not stabilized, preventing the displaced from returning to their homes.”
Former Kurdistan Region President and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Masoud Barzani in a statement also underlined that “the agreement between the KRG and the Iraqi federal government on the normalization of the situation in Sinjar must be implemented, and the illegal and extraordinary conditions that have been unjustly imposed on the people of the region for 10 years must end.”
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also emphasized the importance of the Sinjar Agreement in a statement on August 2, 2024.
“In Iraq today, non-state actors and government-affiliated militias continue to perpetrate serious abuses against religious minorities already vulnerable after ISIS’s genocide against them,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Eric Ueland.
“The United States must continue to raise religious freedom concerns with Iraq’s federal government, urging it to limit the power of the abusive Popular Mobilization Forces brigades and to work with the KRG to fulfill the terms of the Sinjar Agreement, in consultation with Yezidi communities. USCIRF also advises the U.S. government to encourage its allied local forces in northeast Syria, the KRG, and the government of Iraq to continue urgently pursuing rescue efforts for abducted Yezidi and Assyrian women and girls.”
Germany’s Embassy in Baghdad in a post on X stated that it “is necessary to create the conditions for a voluntary, safe and dignified return of Yazidis to Sinjar and fully implement the Sinjar Agreement.”
During a commemoration event at the University of Kurdistan Hewler, KRG Yezidi Rescue Office Head Khairi Bozani underlined that “after 10 years, the genocide is still continuing because we still have more than 2,000 people missing, many IDPs, and our youth moving abroad. When all these issues are solved, then we can talk about it as the past.”
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani during the same event said that “over 5,000 individuals were brutally murdered and buried in nearly 100 mass graves. More than 6,417 Yezidi females, minors, and young children were abducted and subjected to trafficking.”
“Tragically, the whereabouts of 2,596 of these individuals remain unknown. The devastation wrought upon Sinjar and its neighboring areas, along with the forced migration of hundreds of thousands from Sinjar and its vicinity, ensures that the immense suffering of all those affected will persist indefinitely – not just for a decade, but for eternity.”
