HRW: Non-payment of compensation by Iraq delays the return of Yazidis to Sinjar

2023/05/23132-1683788797.jpg
Read: 1395     12:30     11 Май 2023    

“Human Rights Watch” criticized the federal government of Iraq for non-payment of compensation for Yazidi property in Sinjar, which, according to human rights activists, delays the return of displaced people to their homes.

In mid-August 2014, ISIS attacked Sinjar, killing hundreds of people and kidnapping more than 6,000, mostly women and children. Almost a year later, Yazidi self-defense forces, supported by the Kurdistan Peshmerga, along with other armed forces and the U.S.-led coalition, were able to liberate Yazidi Sinjar district, located in Nineveh province.

In October 2020, the UN helped Erbil and Baghdad reach an agreement to normalize the situation in Sinjar to ensure the safe return of Yazidis. According to the agreement, all armed groups, including the pro-Iranian Hashd al-Shaabi militias and fighters (PKK), are obliged to leave Sinjar. However, the federal government has so far failed to ensure the withdrawal of these groups as part of the steps to implement the deal.

A Human Rights Watch statement released this week argues that one reason Yazidis do not want to return to their places of origin is that they see that those who have already returned face an unstable security situation and inadequate or non-existent public services - education, health care, water and electricity supplies.

But another key reason people remain in displacement camps and do not return home is the failure of the Iraqi government to provide compensation for damage to their property, as required by Iraqi law.

According to the statement, some 10,500 Yazidi victims have applied for the compensation promised by the state, but only about 5,000 claims have been approved. Only a limited number of Yazidis who filed claims under the separate "Yazidi Survivors Act", aimed at helping victims of IS atrocities, received any form of compensation. The rest of Sinjar's population was left without financial compensation.

"You can't expect people to go back to the ruins. Their homes and businesses were destroyed in the fighting, and they have no means to rebuild them. The Iraqi government must step up. If the point of driving ISIS out of Sinjar by force was to get life back to normal in the area, it was only halfway done", the report stresses.

Yazidi population needs direct financial support without intermediaries, because most of the finances are dissipated in Kurdistan and Iraq or do not reach the Yazidi population at all.





Tags: #yazidisinfo   #newsyazidis   #HRW  



HRW: Non-payment of compensation by Iraq delays the return of Yazidis to Sinjar

2023/05/23132-1683788797.jpg
Read: 1396     12:30     11 Май 2023    

“Human Rights Watch” criticized the federal government of Iraq for non-payment of compensation for Yazidi property in Sinjar, which, according to human rights activists, delays the return of displaced people to their homes.

In mid-August 2014, ISIS attacked Sinjar, killing hundreds of people and kidnapping more than 6,000, mostly women and children. Almost a year later, Yazidi self-defense forces, supported by the Kurdistan Peshmerga, along with other armed forces and the U.S.-led coalition, were able to liberate Yazidi Sinjar district, located in Nineveh province.

In October 2020, the UN helped Erbil and Baghdad reach an agreement to normalize the situation in Sinjar to ensure the safe return of Yazidis. According to the agreement, all armed groups, including the pro-Iranian Hashd al-Shaabi militias and fighters (PKK), are obliged to leave Sinjar. However, the federal government has so far failed to ensure the withdrawal of these groups as part of the steps to implement the deal.

A Human Rights Watch statement released this week argues that one reason Yazidis do not want to return to their places of origin is that they see that those who have already returned face an unstable security situation and inadequate or non-existent public services - education, health care, water and electricity supplies.

But another key reason people remain in displacement camps and do not return home is the failure of the Iraqi government to provide compensation for damage to their property, as required by Iraqi law.

According to the statement, some 10,500 Yazidi victims have applied for the compensation promised by the state, but only about 5,000 claims have been approved. Only a limited number of Yazidis who filed claims under the separate "Yazidi Survivors Act", aimed at helping victims of IS atrocities, received any form of compensation. The rest of Sinjar's population was left without financial compensation.

"You can't expect people to go back to the ruins. Their homes and businesses were destroyed in the fighting, and they have no means to rebuild them. The Iraqi government must step up. If the point of driving ISIS out of Sinjar by force was to get life back to normal in the area, it was only halfway done", the report stresses.

Yazidi population needs direct financial support without intermediaries, because most of the finances are dissipated in Kurdistan and Iraq or do not reach the Yazidi population at all.





Tags: #yazidisinfo   #newsyazidis   #HRW