Northern Iraq,— Angelina Jolie, an American actress and former UN refugee agency’s Special Envoy, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, visited Sinjar (Shingal) in Nineveh province in northern Iraq on Wednesday to oversee renovation projects in the war-ravaged district, according to a statement on Nadia’s Initiative website.

In 2014, the Islamic State group ISIS’s invasion of Sinjar and other areas in northern and western Iraq caused the deaths of thousands of Yazidis.

Angelina and Nadia interacted with the Yazidi women and children who had overcome the genocide, many of whom had also undergone sexual enslavement and had come back to Sinjar in hopes to create a brighter future for themselves and their families. They encountered members of other Iraqi communities that have been impacted by conflict and displacement.

Nadia Murad, the founder and president of Nadia’s Initiative, said “Angelina Jolie has played a crucial role in bringing attention to and addressing the needs of women, children, and refugees globally,”

“I eagerly look forward to showcasing my homeland to such a passionate advocate, highlighting the substantial progress we’ve made towards recovery, and presenting the ongoing needs of my community.” Nadia added.

Angelina Jolie with Nadia Murad (3rd from right) and Yazidi women, Sinjar region, northern Iraq, February 1, 2023. Photo: Nadia Murad’s Twitter

The duo spent a day exploring places significant to Nadia, including her hometown, old school, and former residence. They also visited various sites where Nadia’s Initiative is leading sustainable, community-focused, and survivor-led recovery efforts, like Sinjar Kindergarten, Sinjar City, the new Sinjar Medical Center, among others. During their visit to the village of Tel Qasab, they interacted with people who have directly benefited from the Initiative’s clean water and education projects. On their journey to Sinjar City, they made a stop at a farm run by a woman whose land was completely restored by the Initiative, enabling her to earn a sustainable living, according to the statement.

Angelina Jolie said, “It is a privilege to come back to Iraq, this time to stand with my friend Nadia Murad and the Yazidis in their efforts to reconstruct their lives and communities after experiencing such horrors. Despite the progress they have made, there is still a need for a long-term international commitment to back their work and leadership.”

“Yazidi survivors continue to face challenges such as trauma, insecurity, displacement, and a slow process for reparations. I encountered families who are still searching for information about missing loved ones and others who still lack sufficient support for their basic needs. The people here are trying to help themselves, they deserve both recognition and support.” Jolie added.

It should be noted that Jolie did not meet with any representatives from the so-called Kurdistan Regional Government during her visit.

Jolie has visited Iraqi Kurdistan in 2015 where she met with young children and adult survivors of Islamic State group IS attacks at a refugee camp.

In August 2014, the Islamic State ISIS militants attacked the Sinjar district in northwest Iraq, which was home to hundreds of thousands of Yazidis, after ex-Kurdistan president Massoud Barzani’s KDP militia forces withdrew from the area without a fight leaving behind the Yazidi civilians to IS killing and genocide.

Thousands of Yazidi families fled to Mount Sinjar, where they were trapped in it and suffered from significant lack of water and food, killing and abduction of thousands of Yazidis as well as rape and captivity of thousands of women.

Thousands of Yazidi women were raped and murdered, with many of the survivors sold into sexual slavery and taken away to other parts of Iraq, Syria, and even further afield. Men and boys were systematically murdered, forced to work for the group, or coerced into becoming child soldiers.

18,000 peshmerga forces of Massoud Barzani’ were on the spot and retreat without mounting any defense when Islamic state IS attacked the Yazidi area of Sinjar (Shingal) on August 3, 2014, an unpublished report by Iraq’s Kurdistan regional government revealed.

It is estimated that 3,000 Yazidis were killed over a period of several days and 6,800 others were abducted.

Although several thousand Yazidis have been rescued over the last four-and-a-half years, another 3,000 remain missing, according to official statistics.

Most of the Yazidi people lost faith in the ruling Barzani family when the KDP Peshmerga forces failed to protect them from Islamic State in 2014 which lead to the genocide of the Yazidis in Sinjar district in northwest Iraq.

Many Yazidis, critics, Kurdish politicians and observers blame ex-Kurdistan president Massoud Barzani, the commander in-chief of the KDP Peshmerga, for the Yazidi massacre.

In November 2015, the United Nations has described the attack on the Yazidis as a possible genocide.

In 2016, the EU, US, UN and UK parliament recognize Islamic State killing of Yazidi Kurds as genocide.

In 2018, Armenia recognizes Islamic State genocide of Yazidis in Iraq.

In 2021, Netherlands, Belgium officially recognize Islamic State killing of Yazidis as genocide.

In November 2022, the Luxembourg Parliament formally recognized the Islamic State ISIS killing, persecution, and crimes against the Yazidis as genocide.

On January 19, 2023, German parliament recognises Islamic State killing of Yazidis as genocide.

The Yazidis are a Kurdish speaking religious group linked to Zoroastrianism and Sufism. The religious has roots that date back to ancient Mesopotamia, are considered heretics by the hard-line Islamic State group.

Prior to the 2014 ISIS assault, there were around 600,000 Yazidis live in villages in Iraqi Kurdistan region and in Kurdish areas outside Kurdistan region in around Mosul in Nineveh province. As the ISIS group took over large swaths of territory in Nineveh Province, 360,000 Yazidis managed to escape and find refuge elsewhere, according to the Yazidi Rescue Office.

The are additional Yazidi communities in Transcaucasia, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey and Syria. Since the 1990s, the Yazidis have emigrated to Europe, especially to Germany. There are almost 1.5 million Yazidis worldwide.

Source: ekurd.net