The Yazidis in the camps were forgotten during the pandemic

2021/03/Nadia-1615016324.jpg
Read: 1910     15:00     06 Март 2021    

Day after day, looking at the same four walls, unable to find a job, reunite with relatives, or send children to school. The Covid pandemic has turned this grim picture into reality for many people around the world. However, for those who have survived or are experiencing conflict, these difficulties are hardly new.

For the Yazidi ethnic minority in Iraq, the 2014 ISIS genocide created trouble long before the pandemic. For more than six years, hundreds of thousands of Yazidis have been in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), looking at the same four walls of their tents. They can't find work because ISIS has destroyed their farms and businesses. They cannot be reunited with relatives still held captive by ISIS, or attend the funerals of family members whose bodies remain in mass graves.

Not surprisingly, the pandemic has made these people's situation worse. While countries are preoccupied with their domestic problems caused by the pandemic, those on the periphery of protection - displaced persons, conflict victims, and survivors of sexual violence - are increasingly being pushed to the back. The consequences are likely to be as deadly and even longer lasting than a pandemic.

Currently, these effects are manifested in increased vulnerability to the virus and a sharp deterioration in mental health. In the first 16 days of 2021, 11 young Yazidis committed suicide. Since the 2014 genocide, there have been group suicides in IDP camps, but an accurate picture of Yazidi mental health trends is difficult due to a lack of research resources and a failure to address the root causes of the problem.

There is no doubt that the atrocities committed by ISIL, including mass murder, enslavement, conscription, and rape, have caused social and individual trauma. A study published in 2018 by BMC Medicine found that more than 80% of the participants (Yazidi women, aged 17 to 75) met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. Rates reached almost 100% for women who survived captivity.

In the absence of adequate support, ISIL violence continues to harm the Yazidis. But this is not the only factor that increases the vulnerability of the community; the trauma of genocide is constantly compounded by poverty.

Earlier this month, the Nadia Initiative met with a committee of Yazidis to discuss their needs. The women who survived were unanimous in their priorities. First, it is a desire for justice - for the courts to try to convict ISIL criminals for their crimes of sexual violence and genocide.

The second but equally important priority identified by the committee is to support livelihoods. Some organizations offer limited psychological assistance, but therapy is not a remedy for lack of income, clean water, education, and health care. Yazidi survivors view work as a form of therapy.

However, none of these priorities will be met until the Yazidis can voluntarily and safely return home to a decent environment. There is an opportunity in the government of Baghdad and Erbil to restore local governance, security, and basic services to Sinjar, but political disputes are constantly undermined by long-term solutions.

nadiasinitiative.org





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The Yazidis in the camps were forgotten during the pandemic

2021/03/Nadia-1615016324.jpg
Read: 1911     15:00     06 Март 2021    

Day after day, looking at the same four walls, unable to find a job, reunite with relatives, or send children to school. The Covid pandemic has turned this grim picture into reality for many people around the world. However, for those who have survived or are experiencing conflict, these difficulties are hardly new.

For the Yazidi ethnic minority in Iraq, the 2014 ISIS genocide created trouble long before the pandemic. For more than six years, hundreds of thousands of Yazidis have been in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), looking at the same four walls of their tents. They can't find work because ISIS has destroyed their farms and businesses. They cannot be reunited with relatives still held captive by ISIS, or attend the funerals of family members whose bodies remain in mass graves.

Not surprisingly, the pandemic has made these people's situation worse. While countries are preoccupied with their domestic problems caused by the pandemic, those on the periphery of protection - displaced persons, conflict victims, and survivors of sexual violence - are increasingly being pushed to the back. The consequences are likely to be as deadly and even longer lasting than a pandemic.

Currently, these effects are manifested in increased vulnerability to the virus and a sharp deterioration in mental health. In the first 16 days of 2021, 11 young Yazidis committed suicide. Since the 2014 genocide, there have been group suicides in IDP camps, but an accurate picture of Yazidi mental health trends is difficult due to a lack of research resources and a failure to address the root causes of the problem.

There is no doubt that the atrocities committed by ISIL, including mass murder, enslavement, conscription, and rape, have caused social and individual trauma. A study published in 2018 by BMC Medicine found that more than 80% of the participants (Yazidi women, aged 17 to 75) met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. Rates reached almost 100% for women who survived captivity.

In the absence of adequate support, ISIL violence continues to harm the Yazidis. But this is not the only factor that increases the vulnerability of the community; the trauma of genocide is constantly compounded by poverty.

Earlier this month, the Nadia Initiative met with a committee of Yazidis to discuss their needs. The women who survived were unanimous in their priorities. First, it is a desire for justice - for the courts to try to convict ISIL criminals for their crimes of sexual violence and genocide.

The second but equally important priority identified by the committee is to support livelihoods. Some organizations offer limited psychological assistance, but therapy is not a remedy for lack of income, clean water, education, and health care. Yazidi survivors view work as a form of therapy.

However, none of these priorities will be met until the Yazidis can voluntarily and safely return home to a decent environment. There is an opportunity in the government of Baghdad and Erbil to restore local governance, security, and basic services to Sinjar, but political disputes are constantly undermined by long-term solutions.

nadiasinitiative.org





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