The young women are afraid to return to a devastated land full of ruins and brutality
It has been 10 years since ISIS terrorists tried to destroy the Yazidi people in Sinjar in northern Iraq. They killed men and enslaved women and children. Now the Iraqi government plans to close the camps where survivors live, forcing them to return to their homeland.
Several Yazidi women survivors and camp survivors travelled to the UK to take part in a series of choral performances in a bid to showcase their cultural heritage and highlight the plight of their community, which is an ancient religious and ethnic minority.
Amira, one of the survivors, managed to escape to the mountains, but her sisters were captured and abused. She recounts how one of her sisters gave birth 15 days before her capture and how she was threatened to kill her baby and then feed it to her. Another sister, Delal, while in terrorist captivity lost her daughter as the girls were beaten daily.
Tens of thousands of Yazidis have been living in the camps since 2014, and plans to close them are worrying. Vian Dakhil, the only Yazidi MP in the Iraqi parliament, says Sinjar is still in ruins and unsafe to return to.
Hadiya, 28, who lives in the camp, recalls the horrific events that happened to her cousin Ghazal, who was captured when she was eight years old and forced into marriage two years later. Ghazal, now 18, remains anxious and withdrawn. Her older sister, now 19, is one of hundreds of women and girls who are still missing.
Many survivors feel abandoned and trust no one. They fear returning to Sinjar, where their safety is not guaranteed.
Tags: #yazidisinfo #newsyazidis #genocideyazidis
The young women are afraid to return to a devastated land full of ruins and brutality
It has been 10 years since ISIS terrorists tried to destroy the Yazidi people in Sinjar in northern Iraq. They killed men and enslaved women and children. Now the Iraqi government plans to close the camps where survivors live, forcing them to return to their homeland.
Several Yazidi women survivors and camp survivors travelled to the UK to take part in a series of choral performances in a bid to showcase their cultural heritage and highlight the plight of their community, which is an ancient religious and ethnic minority.
Amira, one of the survivors, managed to escape to the mountains, but her sisters were captured and abused. She recounts how one of her sisters gave birth 15 days before her capture and how she was threatened to kill her baby and then feed it to her. Another sister, Delal, while in terrorist captivity lost her daughter as the girls were beaten daily.
Tens of thousands of Yazidis have been living in the camps since 2014, and plans to close them are worrying. Vian Dakhil, the only Yazidi MP in the Iraqi parliament, says Sinjar is still in ruins and unsafe to return to.
Hadiya, 28, who lives in the camp, recalls the horrific events that happened to her cousin Ghazal, who was captured when she was eight years old and forced into marriage two years later. Ghazal, now 18, remains anxious and withdrawn. Her older sister, now 19, is one of hundreds of women and girls who are still missing.
Many survivors feel abandoned and trust no one. They fear returning to Sinjar, where their safety is not guaranteed.
Tags: #yazidisinfo #newsyazidis #genocideyazidis
