NEXEM ÇAÇAN

Qamishlo- ISIS committed a genocide against the Yazidi community in Shengal (Sinjar) in 2014, abducting thousands of Yazidi women, who were sold in slave markets. Although 11 years have passed since the genocide, the whereabouts of hundreds of Yazidi women remain unknown.

‘Impunity continues’

“Those responsible for the genocide against the Yazidi people have not been punished yet,” said Hediya Şemo, Spokesperson of the Yazidi Women’s Union in Rojava (Kurdish: Yekitiya Jinên Êzidî ya Rojava, YJÊR). “Those who killed, abducted and displaced people in Shengal have not been brought to justice yet.”

Hediya Şemo criticized the silence of the international community and said:

“Yazidism is an ancient faith; however, the international community remained silent against the genocide committed against the Yazidi community in 2014. States do not want to prosecute those responsible for this genocide because these crimes were organized by them.”

Call for justice

Hediya Şemo called those who responsible for the genocide to be brought to justice and the recognition of the crimes committed against the Yazidi community by ISIS as a genocide. “The crimes committed against Armenians have been already recognized as a genocide. The crimes committed against Yazidis must be also recognized as a genocide.”

‘Massacres in Sweida and Latakia continue’

Following the fall of the Baathist regime, Syrian people hoped they would have a decentralized democratic state; however, they have entered a new period of oppression and violence.

‘Those who committed the genocide against the Yazidi community continue their attacks by using different names. Today, they commit massacres against the Alawites in Syria’s coastal areas and the Druze in Sweida.”

‘Yazidi women led the resistance’

Yazidi women were not only the victims of the genocide but also led the resistance against genocidal attacks, Hediya Şemo emphasized. “We founded the Yazidi Women’s Union in Rojava to support women so that they defend themselves.”