I Met with Yezidi Victims of Terror in Iraq: Here’s What They Told Me

The Yezidi community in northern Iraq has faced an existential crisis since Da’esh began targeting them in August 2014. The terrorists killed many of the Yezidi men they encountered; they raped and abducted women and children; they openly boasted of their desire to eliminate the Yezidi people, their faith, and their culture from the face of the earth. When thousands of Yezidis fled the Da’esh advance to Mt. Sinjar, and found themselves surrounded by terrorists without shelter, food, or water, the United States answered their call for help. Airdrops kept them alive on the mountain; then airstrikes enabled Kurdish forces to rescue them. But they are not out of danger.

March 17, Secretary Kerry announced that in his judgment, these acts, and many others committed by Da’esh, constituted genocide against the Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims under its control. He also concluded that Da’esh is, “responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups and in some cases also against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities.”

On February 23, I travelled to Iraq and spoke to some of the Yezidi victims of Da’esh’s terror. Along with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones and Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the Middle East Knox Thames, I visited Lalish, the Yezidis’ most holy mountain shrine, now about 20 miles north of the front line with Da’esh. There we met with Yezidi spiritual leader Baba Sheikh, as well as political and tribal leaders of Yezidi communities from throughout Iraq. We thanked Baba Sheikh for his leadership during the current crisis, and for his strong words urging his people to welcome home with love and compassion women and girls rescued from Da’esh captivity. Baba Sheikh and other Yezidi spiritual and cultural leaders have made clear that the stigma of sexual violence must be borne by the perpetrator not the victim. And they have rightly asked us to do everything in our power to bring all of Da’esh’s captives home.

While in Lalish, we walked through the shrine carved from the stone of the mountain, and learned about the history of the Yezidi people and religion. We ran our hands through the water of a sacred spring that passes through a subterranean chamber. The custom is to do so while thinking of lost loved ones, and we were conscious that beside us were men who had lost large parts of their families to the genocide perpetrated by Da’esh, and whose towns and villages were utterly ruined in the fighting and subsequent liberation.

We then sat down to listen to the Yezidi leaders, and to answer their questions about the hard road that still lies ahead. There was no question in their minds that Da’esh would be defeated, but many expressed fear about what would follow, and about whether the diverse people of this part of Iraq — Sunni and Shia Muslims, Christians, Yezidis, Turkmen, Shabak, Kaka’I, and others — could find a way to live together again.

A sheikh from Sinjar spoke of a family whose daughter had been kidnapped, and how they then saw on Facebook a post by a neighbor who had joined Da’esh, bragging of having taken her. He and others spoke of the raw and understandable anger that his people feel towards those among their neighbors who stayed behind and supported — or acquiesced to — Da’esh. “How can you expect us to go back to our villages when three kilometers away there is a village full of people who helped those who tried to kill us?” one asked.

I replied that we could only begin to imagine the pain and fury we would feel in their situation. I made clear that we would not expect them to return to liberated areas without adequate security. But as returns begin, I urged them, as the heads of their community, to lead their people in rejecting revenge attacks against those they hold responsible or collective punishment against whole families, villages, or tribes because of the actions of some of their members. I asked: “If you push those neighboring villagers who are three kilometers away a hundred or a thousand kilometers further, will you be safer, given that Da’esh fighters came to Iraq from all over the world?” Collective punishment would just make enemies of the children of those people, and perpetuate the cycle of violence forever.

All agreed that justice under the law would be better. And the Yezidi leaders fairly asked that we do our part to encourage and help Iraqi institutions provide that justice. We spoke about the need to preserve the evidence of genocide and mass atrocities, to distinguish between those who committed crimes and those who stayed with Da’esh out of fear, and to counsel patience as this slow and difficult process unfolds.

We also spoke about the liberation of the lands still occupied by Da’esh, and all that would be required to restore them to life. We discussed the role the Yezidis would play in that effort, in assuring their own security, and in the governance of Iraq in the future. I was heartened by the extent to which the Yezidis were focused on their future in Iraq, and by the feeling of hope that engendered on the mountain at Lalish.

Despite all these people have endured, despite the anguish they feel about their loved ones still held by Da’esh, they know they have survived. And they know that they have friends, including many people in the United States who did not know of the existence of the Yezidi community just two years ago.

Secretary Kerry said that he hopes his announcement “will assure the victims of Da’esh’s atrocities that the United States recognizes and confirms the despicable nature of the crimes that have been committed against them.” Indeed, the United States will continue to stand by them and all the people of Iraq who have been terrorized by Da’esh, to help them reclaim their homes and their lives, with the better governance that will be needed to ensure the tragedies they have suffered do not happen again.