IRFBA Chair’s Statement on the 10th Anniversary of the Attack on Sinjar and the Atrocities by Daesh against Yezidis and other Religious Minorities

This month marks 10 years since Daesh (also known as Islamic State against groups, IS, ISIS, and ISIL) began committing genocide and war crimes against vulnerable religious and ethnic components in Iraq and Syria. In August 2014, Daesh fighters stormed into the traditional Yezidi homeland of Sinjar, Iraq, killing thousands of men before abducting and forcing more than 3,000 women and girls into sexual slavery. They also turned their campaign of religious violence against Christians, Turkmen Shia, and other communities, killing thousands and forcing millions to flee their homes in terror. 

These communities still seek justice a decade later. Most Yezidis remain displaced due to a lack of security and reconstruction in Sinjar, even as they continue to uncover mass graves and desperately search for the fates of more than 2,600 Yezidi women and children who remain missing. And while many Christians have returned to their homes, they face the grim toll that Daesh’s genocidal violence, and a decade of conflict beforehand, wrought on their community: less than 200,000 of them now remain in Iraq, compared to an estimated 1.5 million before 2003.

Today, I stand with the victims and survivors of Daesh’s campaign of genocide and atrocities, particularly from those vulnerable communities who struggle to fully recover 10 years later. 

I especially call for the international community to redouble its efforts to pursue justice for Daesh’s victims and accountability for its fighters who have too long escaped it. Indeed, finally bringing Daesh’s leaders and fighters to account for their myriad crimes will contribute to multinational efforts to bring desperately needed peace and security in Iraq, Syria, and the wider region.

I also call on all likeminded partners to turn their attention and resources to the pending closure next month of the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD), which has been the primary UN mechanism, in cooperation with Iraq, to collect and preserve evidence of Daesh atrocities.  Its work has been vital to preparing the way for justice and accountability, as its team has labored since 2019 to painstakingly uncover and process mass graves, interview survivors, and collect other forms of documentation. However, UNITAD’s imminent closure comes far too soon: it has yet to identify and exhume many existing mass graves of Daesh victims or to afford many witnesses their opportunity to testify. I therefore call for broad international support in ensuring the transfer of evidence and other holdings that UNITAD has collected in a manner that preserves their evidentiary value for ongoing and future prosecutions, and that devotes careful attention to the preservation and confidentiality of survivors’ testimonies. 

Authorities in northern Iraq have so far failed to include authentic inclusion and representation from Yezidis, Christians, and other religious and ethnic components in many of their plans and discussions to bring security and stability to the area. The glacial pace of implementing the 2020 Sinjar Agreement, reached without input from survivors, highlights this very trend. Iraqi authorities must include all these communities—who suffered deeply at the hand of Daesh and still struggle to recover—in all decisions that directly impact them and their historic homelands. It is the only way to preserve their long-term future in Iraq, and indeed, to ensure the failure of Daesh’s effort to destroy the country’s greatest strength and asset: its rich and remarkable religious and ethnic diversity. 

As we commemorate the tenth anniversary of Daesh’s genocidal attacks, let us reaffirm our commitment to defending the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people, regardless of religion, belief, or ethnicity, and our dedication to tirelessly pursuing justice, recovery, and peace for all victims and survivors.