UN Calls for Reparations, Trials, and Renewed Action to Restore Yazidi Rights

UN Media

Claudio Cordone, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq for Political Af

Claudio Cordone, Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance, delivered a poignant address at a ceremony, commemorating the Yazidi genocide, as its anniversary approaches, reaffirming the UN’s unwavering solidarity with victims and urging tangible progress in justice, reparations, and safe returns.

Speaking at the commemoration, Cordone expressed the United Nations’ full solidarity with all the victims of Daesh (the Islamic State or ISIS), calling it “one of the most brutal, ignorant and perverse ideologies in modern history,” and emphasised the enduring pain and trauma still felt by Yazidi survivors and their families.

Highlighting the ongoing challenges facing the Yazidi population, Cordone noted that more than 200,000 Yazidis remain displaced, many of them still residing in camps. Over 2,600 Yazidis remain missing, and returnees continue to face dire conditions due to a lack of services and support.

“I welcome the efforts of Baghdad and Erbil in this regard,” he said, “but I call for more, and faster, efforts to restore the rights of the Yazidis. The recovery of the Yazidi community will mark the ultimate defeat of Daesh (ISIS).”

Cordone stressed the importance of reparations in acknowledging the harm suffered by survivors and helping them rebuild their lives. While more than 2,200 survivors have benefitted from the Yazidi Survivors’ Law since its adoption four years ago, he cited ongoing barriers to its effective implementation. He also called for inclusive support for women who were forced to marry ISIS members and for children born of rape, urging their communities to embrace rather than ostracise them.

Furthermore, Cordone acknowledged recent progress in formalising land rights but emphasised the need for broader efforts to ensure safe and dignified returns.

“Without stability and security, people cannot be expected to return,” he warned, urging Baghdad, Erbil, and Yazidi leaders to renew cooperation and meet the community’s needs.

Cordone reaffirmed the importance of holding Daesh perpetrators accountable through fair trials in Iraq or in cooperation with other jurisdictions. “There must be justice, not revenge,” he said. He also stressed the need to recognise individuals who protected Yazidis during the genocide.

On 3 August 2014, ISIS terrorists launched a vicious attack on Shingal (Sinjar), the mainland of the Yazidis, 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 minority community. Most of them fled to the Kurdistan Region, while others resettled to neighboring countries in the region or Western states.

Others 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. 

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. 

During the displacement of the Yazidis to Mount Shingal, a group of Peshmerga soldiers, who were all from the PUK, stayed in close proximity. Their primary responsibility was to protect the people stranded on the mountain from terrorist attacks until they could be rescued. 

At the time, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) took a brave position and established multiple units, which were strategically positioned around Shingal. Their objective was to fully liberate the displaced individuals on Mount Sinjar. Over 100 PUK Peshmergas perished while defending the front line, bravely sacrificing their lives to safeguard the Yezidis.



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