The Sexual Slavery of Yazidis by ISIS

Posted by NoraCoyne | 2017

http://humantraffickingsearch.org/2017718the-sexual-slavery-of-yazidis-by-isis/

In August 2014, ISIS attacked the largely Yazidi populated region of Sinjar, Iraq. The Yazidis are a
minority group located primarily in northern Iraq, by the Syrian border. The Yazidi religion has
aspects of Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, but differs in their belief in reincarnation
and the idea that God put the world in the care of seven holy beings. Because of this, the group has
been targeted heavily by ISIS, who label the Yazidis as devil worshipers. ISIS believes that because
the Yazidis are not Muslims, they can be killed or used as property under their Islamic law. Concrete
data on the 2014 attacks is limited, but multiple reports estimate that over 3,000 were killed and
over 6,000 were kidnapped by ISIS. Women and small children were separated from the boys and
men. While the males were mostly killed, the women and children were taken away as prisoners.
Many of these women were sold to ISIS soldiers as sex slaves. There have been reports of systematic
selling of Yazidis as sex slaves. Women are sold in formal sex slave markets as well as online, where
they are evaluated for their age, marital status, number of children, and beauty.

Some Yazidi women have escaped or been rescued from ISIS captivity. Germany has been at the
forefront for providing psychological treatment and health care to these Yazidi survivors. Trauma
specialist Jan Kizilhan, in partnership with Winfried Kretschmann, governor of the state of Baden-
Württemberg, has pioneered a program to help Yazidi women heal from the physical and mental
trauma inflicted on them during their enslavement. Over the course of 2015, Kizilhan and his team
made multiple trips in to refugee camps in search of the most in-need women and girls to be part of
the two-year program in Germany. More than a refugee resettlement program, this
program holistically addresses the sexual abuse ISIS has inflicted on thousands of women and girls.
Participants are given shelter, therapy, school and language classes, and a small stipend of spending
money. The program currently can only accommodate 1,100 women, but is designed to be adapted
for other locations and languages. Kizilhan is now training psychologists in Iraq and Syria to
implement the program in their home countries. Other countries, like Canada, are beginning to
prioritize Yazidi women in their resettlement programs.
Nadia Murad is one of the women the program has served. She was held by ISIS as a slave for
approximately one month before she was able to escape. Though still traumatized by what happened
to her, Murad is using her voice to advocate for the thousands of women and children still captive by
ISIS. Murad has teamed up with human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to convince the UN to bring
charges against ISIS for international crimes. Now a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of
Survivors of Human Trafficking, Murad is traveling the world urging the international community to
support her fight and help victims of human trafficking. It is estimated that over 3,000 women and
girls are still prisoners of ISIS.
Nora Coyne is the HTS Europe Summer Fellow.
PC: The Guardian