The ancient heritage of Yazidis is indeed under threat. The systematic destruction of Yazidi shrines and other religious sites by ISIS terrorists was a deliberate attempt to erase their culture and identity. Yazidis were forced to leave their homes and live in IDP camps, many of them are still trying to rebuild their lives. Today, more than 200,000 Yazidis remain internally displaced and live in tent camps.

In August 2023, the British government officially recognized the action of ISIS in 2014 as genocide — a brutal attempt to destroy a small ethnic group (Yazidis).

One of the main goals of ISIS was the complete destruction of all shrines, realizing that the destruction of the ancient religious heritage would be the biggest blow to Yazidi people.

A researcher from the American University states: "Ritual and social life has always been closely connected with shrines and other religious objects, such as sacred stones or trees, which make up a sacred landscape for Yazidis... Shrines concentrate the main annual community events, such as holidays and pilgrimages, and provide social cohesion as well as religious identity."

After the liberation of Iraq, the restoration of the destroyed shrines was required. Together, more than 68 objects of Yazidi heritage have been reconstructed. People who found themselves in refugee camps, giving priority to the restoration of temples, rather than their homes, directed their last efforts and funds to the improvement of religious sites.

In Sinjar, unlike other regions where Yazidis live, the pace of reconstruction was more active, since after the recognition of the genocide, the problem acquired an international status, and in 2017-2018, many world organizations allocated funds for reconstruction, but this was only the initial activity, and further funding became unstable. People who visited Sinjar in the first year after liberation and now note that the changes are extremely insignificant and the pace of reconstruction is scanty.

Yazidis continue to live in refugee camps, and the authorities stubbornly do not notice this. The last major incident was also hushed up. After the Iraqi security forces returned about 25 Sunni families to Sinjar, a Yazidi girl recognized one of them as an ISIS member who raped and enslaved her, but no one believed her. After that, a group of Yazidis went to protest so that they could finally be heard. As a result: Yazidis were falsely accused of setting fire to a mosque and inciting ethnic conflicts.

There are fewer and fewer international initiatives to restore shrines and Yazidis fear that they are beginning to be forgotten. Despite the fact that 3 years ago Lalesh was included in the preliminary list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the probability of complete reconstruction is very low. People do not believe that there will be an organization that will undertake financial obligations for the improvement and restoration of the temple in full.
The recognition of the genocide was supposed to help Yazidis, but as it turned out from the latest data, it was not possible to fully document the degree of destruction for 44 religious sites, since at the time of the study it was unsafe in Iraq, and today funding has almost been suspended, and the shrines were left without reconstruction.

Public figures and lawyers note that the recognition of the genocide usually "brings money" to help the people, but as it turned out, not in the case of Yazidis.

Yazidis have a rich and ancient culture that deserves to be preserved. We must not allow ISIS to succeed in destroying them.