Iraq: Yazidi community suffers one crisis after another
Part-4
“Now, people can’t travel to Dohuk and the only destination available for them is Mosul. To access Mosul for medical needs, they must travel by ambulance so they’re allowed to cross checkpoints. On average, it takes four hours before a patient reaches the hospitals in Mosul. Many Yazidi people also have reservations about going to Mosul either due to the events of 2014, or because many of them don’t speak Arabic and it’s hard for them to communicate.”
For many people living in the villages in Sinjar, Sinuni General Hospital – where MSF provides emergency and maternity services – is the only option for healthcare services. But fewer women are coming because they are not allowed through the checkpoints to get to the hospital.
“Our outpatient department numbers have greatly decreased,” said Adelaide Debrah , a midwife working for MSF in Sinuni.
“Women are not coming for antenatal or postnatal care and family planning because they cannot cross the checkpoints; they are not considered an emergency. After some recent easing of movement restrictions, we received more women with unwanted pregnancies who told us that they ran out of family planning items and medication.”
Fear of instability.
On top of COVID-19, recent airstrikes in the region and ongoing military campaigns against groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) are causing further mental stress and people fear the area will become a warzone again.
“The day the fighter jets bombed the Sinjar mountain, I was in Sinuni. The first rocket terrified me; I didn’t know what was going on. The first thing that came to my mind was that IS was back in Sinjar.” said Aeed.
“After some phone calls, I learnt that it was Turkish bombings of PKK-affiliated groups. The house I stay in is very close to one of their bases and out of fear of the base being bombed, I left the house. I wandered around Sinuni and heard women and children screaming. People were carrying their children and trying to move far away from the bases. Now, people have stopped visiting the mountainous areas completely, out of fear of being targeted by warplanes.”
Tags: #yazidisinfo #newsyezidi #genocideyezidi #humanrights #aboutyezidis
Iraq: Yazidi community suffers one crisis after another
Part-4
“Now, people can’t travel to Dohuk and the only destination available for them is Mosul. To access Mosul for medical needs, they must travel by ambulance so they’re allowed to cross checkpoints. On average, it takes four hours before a patient reaches the hospitals in Mosul. Many Yazidi people also have reservations about going to Mosul either due to the events of 2014, or because many of them don’t speak Arabic and it’s hard for them to communicate.”
For many people living in the villages in Sinjar, Sinuni General Hospital – where MSF provides emergency and maternity services – is the only option for healthcare services. But fewer women are coming because they are not allowed through the checkpoints to get to the hospital.
“Our outpatient department numbers have greatly decreased,” said Adelaide Debrah , a midwife working for MSF in Sinuni.
“Women are not coming for antenatal or postnatal care and family planning because they cannot cross the checkpoints; they are not considered an emergency. After some recent easing of movement restrictions, we received more women with unwanted pregnancies who told us that they ran out of family planning items and medication.”
Fear of instability.
On top of COVID-19, recent airstrikes in the region and ongoing military campaigns against groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) are causing further mental stress and people fear the area will become a warzone again.
“The day the fighter jets bombed the Sinjar mountain, I was in Sinuni. The first rocket terrified me; I didn’t know what was going on. The first thing that came to my mind was that IS was back in Sinjar.” said Aeed.
“After some phone calls, I learnt that it was Turkish bombings of PKK-affiliated groups. The house I stay in is very close to one of their bases and out of fear of the base being bombed, I left the house. I wandered around Sinuni and heard women and children screaming. People were carrying their children and trying to move far away from the bases. Now, people have stopped visiting the mountainous areas completely, out of fear of being targeted by warplanes.”
Tags: #yazidisinfo #newsyezidi #genocideyezidi #humanrights #aboutyezidis
