To UN Secretary-General A. Guterres, President of the United States J. Biden, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, To the Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany A. Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, To the EU leadership, to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kazimi.

Dear leaders of the UN, the leading world countries and the Republic of Iraq,

About seven years have passed since the day (03.08.2014) when the so - called IS ("Islamic State") committed genocide against one of the oldest ethnic groups in the world - the Yazidi people in the eyes of the advanced world community in the 21st century. As a result, according to official UN data, about 5-7 thousand representatives of the Yazidi people were killed, 7 thousand women and children were taken prisoner, and more than 450 thousand became refugees. Since that day, little has changed in the situation of the Yazidi population, who have become refugees in their own country. The Iraqi leadership could not protect its citizens from genocide and now does almost nothing to improve the lives of Yazidis. About 150,000 Yazidi refugees have returned to their native province of Shangal, where Iraqi leaders promised to provide satisfactory housing conditions.

However, until now, most of them have not received the most necessary living conditions, and the remaining ones have become collateral damage for the Kurdish leaders to use for their own interests. More than 250 thousand Yazidi refugees are still in the territory of the Iraqi Kurdish autonomy. Over the past 7 years, the situation of Yazidi refugees has hardly improved. The leadership of the Republic of Iraq is not fulfilling its obligations to improve the plight of its own citizens. According to our data, since 2014, the leadership of the Kurdish autonomy has received billions of dollars from the UN and various international humanitarian organizations and countries to normalize the living, economic and medical conditions of Yazidi refugees, but this assistance either does not reach the recipient, or is partially suitable.

The leaders of the Kurdish autonomy are conducting a large assimilation policy among the Yazidi refugees in the camps of the Kurdish autonomy. For not recognizing themselves as ethnic Kurds, Yazidis are subjected to moral and physical violence (UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, General Assembly Resolution of 13.09.2007, chapter 61/295, pp. 1-46). The rights of the Yazidi people were not included in the Constitution of Iraq when it was drawn up in 2005 on a par with other indigenous peoples, which became the basis of the genocide of 2014... (the new constitution of the Republic of Iraq). Iraq gives indigenous peoples the right to form local police and military self-defense forces). On June 4 of this year, another tragedy occurred in the life of Yazidi refugees in the Sharia camp (Kurdish autonomy). For unknown reasons, there was a fire in one of the tents. Due to the untimely arrival of rescuers, the fire spread to the rest of the camp. As a result of the fire, about 400 tents were completely burned, the shelf life of which is a maximum of 2-3 years, and Yazidi refugees have been living in them for 7 years already. To improve the lives of the Yazidi refugees of Shangal, we demand that the leadership of the Iraqi State fulfill the following obligations towards its citizens.

1 .Create in the city of Shangal (Arabic. Sinjar) a special commission under the supervision of UN representatives, with the inclusion of local representatives to improve the life of the local population, provide humanitarian, medicaandseconddaryaid to the local population;

2. Prohibit the flow of financial and humanitarian aid to the Government of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq for Yazidi refugees, and redirect this aid to Shangal.

3. To recommend the leadership of the central authorities of Iraq to introduce the rights of the Yazidi people, like the other indigenous peoples of Iraq, into the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq.

4. To facilitate the return of Yazidi refugees from the Kurdish autonomy to the Shangal province.

World Congress of Yazidis

Bielefeld, Germany.

Cultural Center of the  Caucasus Yazidis (yazidis.info) joins the above official statement, and calls on the world community to pay due attention to the problems of the Yezidi community of Shangal.

Translated by David Babaev