Remembering Shingal Genocide... Statistics, promises, and precious wishes

On August 3rd, 2014, Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists launched a vicious attack on Shingal (Sinjar), the mainland of the Yazidi community, and a disputed town in northern Iraq, killing thousands of Yazidi men and abducting women and children to later be forced into slavery.

The attack also led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of members of the community. Most of them fled to the Kurdistan Region, while others resettled to neighboring countries in the region or Western states.

Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone, where they later went through horrific atrocities and mass executions at the hands of the extremist group for years. ISIS militants forced women and girls into sexual slavery, kidnapped their children, forced religious conversions, executed scores of men, and abused, sold, and trafficked women and girls across the areas they controlled in Iraq and Syria.

According to the United Nations, 5,000 Yazidi men died in the massacre. The terrorists have also kidnapped thousands of Yazidi women and teenage girls.

According to the KRG, the terrorists kidnapped more than 6,400 Yazidis, but only half of them managed to escape or survive, while the fate of the rest is still unknown.

ISIS gained control of one-third of Iraq in 2014 until 2017 when Iraq announced regaining control of Nineveh, Anbar, Saladin, and parts of Kirkuk and Diyala.

The latest statistics of ISIS victims in Shingal since 2014

According to the Kidnapped Yazidis Rescue Office in the Kurdistan Region, the number of Yazidis in Iraq used to be about 550,000 while the number of displaced people as a result of the ISIS invasion was about 360,000.

According to the statistics, 1,293 martyrs had fallen during the first days of the invasion and the number of children orphaned by the invasion is 2,745 orphans.

As for mass graves discovered in Shingal so far, their number has reached 82 mass graves, in addition to dozens of individual gravesites. The statistics also showed that ISIS has blown up 68 shrines.

Out of 3,548 women, only 1,465 have been rescued

After the occupation of Shingal by ISIS, women have been the main victims of these attacks, so the Kurdistan Regional Government has taken serious steps to treat and compensate those affected by these attacks.

Dindar Zebari, the Coordinator for International Advocacy in the Kurdistan Region, said that since the attack on Shingal, a large number of women have been killed, including the kidnapping and rape of 3,548 women. 

The Kurdistan Regional Government has taken the responsibility of rescuing the kidnapped Yazidi women and by May 23, 2018, they were able to rescue (3,275) people, including (1,148) women, (336) men, (935) girls, and (956) boys. 

Meanwhile, there are 3,146 people, including 1465 women and 1685 men, who have not been rescued so far.

Zabari said that the women survivors were subjected to a variety of cruel inhumane behavior from being sold, bought, physical and mental torture, and sexual assault. Most of them are in poor mental and physical health and need treatment. So far, about 100 women have been sent to Germany for treatment, especially psychologically.

Recognizing the crime as genocide

12 foreign parliaments, the last of which was the Belgian parliament, recognized the crimes committed against the Yazidis as crimes of genocide.

The United Nations, the European Parliament, and other nations including the United States, Belgium, Canada, and the Netherlands have already recognized ISIS crimes against the Yazidis as genocide. 

Nadia Murad... A bitter story of crimes against humanity 

Nadia Murad recounts a bitter and painful story after the Shingal fall and represents all Yazidi girls and women who are being persecuted by ISIS for years. They are being raped, hurt, and marketed far from all religious and human values.

This is the kind of treatment they get under the rule of the "Caliphate of the Islamic State" as terrorists call themselves caliphates!

Nadia's story is a bitter reality. It is the story of all Yazidi women and girls. So Nadia, as the Yazidis ambassador, tells the story of the Yazidis loudly to wake the world up from the deep sleep they are in!

Nadia Murad is a Yazidi girl kidnapped by ISIS terrorist groups in August 2014 along with hundreds of other girls and women. She remained with the group for three months before surviving with help from an Iraqi family. During her testimony to the UN Security Council, with a heavy heart and eyes filled with tears, she spoke of all the atrocities that she and the Yazidi women and girls went through. 

Escape of the force!

Nadia said: "We heard that Mosul was captured on the news, but we never believed that ISIS would reach us, especially when we were in a remote village, but ISIS came and the force that was supposed to protect us ran away, so we tried to run, but we were not successful. Our village was occupied on the 15th of the month under the supervision of an ISIS leader, who was called Abu Hamza. We were then transferred to Kocho village, where we were imprisoned in a school, a two-story school, girls and women on the top floor, and men on the bottom floor."

"ISIS terrorists were asking men to become Muslims, and anyone who refused to accept would be transferred and then killed. We heard the sound of gunshots from the killing of the men," said Nadia. 

"They took all of our mobile phones and the gold we had with us, then transported 150 girls by two cars. They began trying to rape us in the cars. They took us to a remote place where there were some other girls kidnapped. We asked them what they were doing to us, and they said, "You will be asked for marriage, and if you refuse, you will be raped", Some of the girls were transferred to Syria, and the others were kept in Iraq," she added.

Selling the Yazidi girls

Nadia further recounted the events, saying: "The gunmen came to the school where we were imprisoned, chose one between five girls, and then took them to another room and gave them a body examination, and if they didn't like her, they would have changed her with another girl. I had three other sisters with me, and a person who was about 40 years old came to choose me, but he chose another girl instead, and then another man came with guards. His name was Salman, he chose me and took me to his house, where he asked me to become a Muslim. I refused and said: "Firstly I want my mother whom you kidnapped." Then they took me to another place and Salman raped me, and two days later they took me to a Mosul court where a person reads the Quran and said: "Salman she is halal to you, then they gave my name, a sum of money, and my pictures to the court to be ready for anyone who wants to take me. "

"I went to Salman's house and stayed there for one night and the next night we went to his uncle's house, where they were constantly raping me," she continued.

Nadia also said: "They treated our bodies as property, they rent us and sold us. The prices were between 400,000 Iraqi dinars to 800 US dollars." 

Nadia's escape Nadia continued her story and said: "After that, they decided to give me to a man from Hamdania. A driver of Salman who was ordered to transport me raped me on the way, but when he got off, I was able to run and get to a house, they agreed to hide me and help me, but in return for some money, so I contacted my brother in Kirkuk to get me the money and stayed there for 17 days. They didn't do anything, they just looked at me and then issued me an ID so that I could be seen as his wife so ISIS wouldn't recognize us, and so I reached Kirkuk.

"I hope all that all girls will be saved, especially some of them who are only 7 years old," said Nadia in conclusion.

"I hope I get information about my mother who has been kidnapped since that day and I have no information on her and 80 more women and girls who I don't know if they are alive or dead because they were transported in groups but we heard the sounds of gunshots during their transport," she added.

Nadia's story is one of many more stories of women and girls whose fates are yet to be revealed and brought to light.



PUKmedia