Iraq: Yezidi child survivors of ‘Islamic State’ facing unprecedented health crisis - 2

2020/08/64564-1596528974.jpg
Read: 1262     18:00     30 Июль 2020    

Part 2


Physical and mental health crisis

Humanitarian workers, mental health professionals and caregivers told Amnesty International about challenges for two groups of child survivors: former child soldiers, and girls subjected to sexual violence.

Thousands of Yezidi boys captured by IS were starved, tortured and forced to fight. As a result, these former child soldiers are especially likely to suffer from serious health conditions or physical disabilities, such as lost arms or legs.

Yezidi boys are often isolated upon their return, as their families and communities struggle to acknowledge their experiences during captivity. They have often been subjected to intense propaganda, indoctrination and military training, deliberately intended to erase their former identities, language, and names.

Of the 14 former child soldiers interviewed, more than half told Amnesty International they had not received any form of support – whether psychosocial, health, financial, or otherwise – after their return.

Sahir*, who was forcibly recruited at the age of 15, said: “I was forced to fight. I had to do it or die. I didn’t have any other option. It was out of my control. To survive, I did the fighting. It’s the worst thing that can happen to any human, the most degrading… [After returning from captivity] what I was looking for is just someone to care about me, some support, to tell me, ‘I am here for you’… This is what I have been looking for, and I have never found it.”

Yezidi girls suffered a wide range of abuses in IS captivity, including sexual violence. Girl survivors of sexual violence suffer from a range of health issues, including traumatic fistulas, scarring, and difficulties conceiving or carrying a child to term.

Randa*, a 14-year-old who was in IS captivity for five years, said: “I was a child when they made me marry. They made me suffer. I want my future to be better. I want IS to be held accountable for what they did to me.”

One doctor, whose organization has provided medical and psychosocial care for hundreds of women and girl survivors, said that almost every girl she had treated between the ages of nine and 17 had been raped or subjected to other sexual violence. Amnesty International found that existing services and programmes for survivors of sexual violence have largely neglected girls.

“These children were systematically subjected to the horror of life under IS, and now they’ve been left to pick up the pieces. They must be given the support they desperately need to rebuild their lives as part of the Yezidi community’s future,” said Matt Wells.





Tags: #yazidisinfo   #newsyezidi   #genocideyezidi   #humanrights  



Iraq: Yezidi child survivors of ‘Islamic State’ facing unprecedented health crisis - 2

2020/08/64564-1596528974.jpg
Read: 1263     18:00     30 Июль 2020    

Part 2


Physical and mental health crisis

Humanitarian workers, mental health professionals and caregivers told Amnesty International about challenges for two groups of child survivors: former child soldiers, and girls subjected to sexual violence.

Thousands of Yezidi boys captured by IS were starved, tortured and forced to fight. As a result, these former child soldiers are especially likely to suffer from serious health conditions or physical disabilities, such as lost arms or legs.

Yezidi boys are often isolated upon their return, as their families and communities struggle to acknowledge their experiences during captivity. They have often been subjected to intense propaganda, indoctrination and military training, deliberately intended to erase their former identities, language, and names.

Of the 14 former child soldiers interviewed, more than half told Amnesty International they had not received any form of support – whether psychosocial, health, financial, or otherwise – after their return.

Sahir*, who was forcibly recruited at the age of 15, said: “I was forced to fight. I had to do it or die. I didn’t have any other option. It was out of my control. To survive, I did the fighting. It’s the worst thing that can happen to any human, the most degrading… [After returning from captivity] what I was looking for is just someone to care about me, some support, to tell me, ‘I am here for you’… This is what I have been looking for, and I have never found it.”

Yezidi girls suffered a wide range of abuses in IS captivity, including sexual violence. Girl survivors of sexual violence suffer from a range of health issues, including traumatic fistulas, scarring, and difficulties conceiving or carrying a child to term.

Randa*, a 14-year-old who was in IS captivity for five years, said: “I was a child when they made me marry. They made me suffer. I want my future to be better. I want IS to be held accountable for what they did to me.”

One doctor, whose organization has provided medical and psychosocial care for hundreds of women and girl survivors, said that almost every girl she had treated between the ages of nine and 17 had been raped or subjected to other sexual violence. Amnesty International found that existing services and programmes for survivors of sexual violence have largely neglected girls.

“These children were systematically subjected to the horror of life under IS, and now they’ve been left to pick up the pieces. They must be given the support they desperately need to rebuild their lives as part of the Yezidi community’s future,” said Matt Wells.





Tags: #yazidisinfo   #newsyezidi   #genocideyezidi   #humanrights