The plight of the Yazidis

Yazidis have faced historical persecution, culminating in the devastating attacks by ISIS in 2014. During this invasion, ISIS militants sought to eradicate Yazidi culture, labeling them as heretics. Thousands were killed, and many women and children were abducted and subjected to enslavement and abuse.

The siege on Sinjar, a Yazidi stronghold, led to mass displacement, forcing survivors into refugee camps or exile. Despite this immense suffering, the Yazidis have shown remarkable resilience, striving to rebuild their communities and preserve their heritage. Their plight has drawn global attention, sparking calls for justice and recognition of the atrocities committed against them.

Watch the short video below to gain a better understanding of the suffering of the Yazidis.

Recommended Reading

[eafl id=”2358″ name=”Shadow on the Mountain: A Yazidi Memoir of Terror, Resistance and Hope” text=”Shadow on the Mountain: A Yazidi Memoir of Terror, Resistance and Hope”]

Shaker Jeffrey’s life has been an odyssey of courage, cunning and desperation. His journey began as a fatherless Iraqi farm boy. As a child he hung out with American troops and practised his English. Soon he was helping gather information about terrorists, becoming one of the youngest combat interpreters to work for the United States government, even attracting the notice of General Petraeus.

When he was barely sixteen, ISIS overran his Yazidi community and slaughtered most of its people. He narrowly escaped to the mountains with the remnants of his community but with incredible daring, he became a valuable go-between, informing the U.S. military of the plight of the trapped Yazidis. Time and again he risked his life, going into enemy territory disguised as an ISIS fighter to mount daring rescue operations. Shaker saved over 1,000 civilians from ISIS, including hundreds of girls forced into sex slavery, although he was unable to save his own fiancee from a terrible fate.

Shaker’s powerful and inspiring narrative offers a human face to the people and places caught in the crosshairs of a borderless conflict that has come to define our age.

[eafl id=”2370″ name=”The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State” text=”The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State”]

Nadia Murad was born and raised in Kocho, a small village of farmers and shepherds in northern Iraq. A member of the Yazidi community, she and her brothers and sisters lived a quiet life. Nadia had dreams of becoming a history teacher or opening her own beauty salon.

On August 15th, 2014, when Nadia was just twenty-one years old, this life ended. Islamic State militants massacred the people of her village, executing men who refused to convert to Islam and women too old to become sex slaves. Six of Nadia’s brothers were killed, and her mother soon after, their bodies swept into mass graves. Nadia was taken to Mosul and forced, along with thousands of other Yazidi girls, into the ISIS slave trade.

Nadia would be held captive by several militants and repeatedly raped and beaten. Finally, she managed a narrow escape through the streets of Mosul, finding shelter in the home of a Sunni Muslim family whose eldest son risked his life to smuggle her to safety.

Today, Nadia’s story–as a witness to the Islamic State’s brutality, a survivor of rape, a refugee, a Yazidi–has forced the world to pay attention to an ongoing genocide. It is a call to action, a testament to the human will to survive, and a love letter to a lost country, a fragile community, and a family torn apart by war.