Nineveh demands action to heal Yazidi wounds

Shafaq News/ On Saturday, the local government in Nineveh called on the federal government in Baghdad and the international community to take four critical steps to address the wounds of the Yazidis, who faced genocide during ISIS's control of Sinjar District in 2014.

Governor Abdul Qader Al-Dakhil told Shafaq News Agency that the Nineveh local government, under the direct supervision of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, laid the foundation for the "Modern Village" project in the village of Kojo in Sinjar.

Al-Dakhil described the laying of the foundation stone for the modern village as the beginning of the reconstruction of Sinjar. He outlined four essential steps for healing the Yazidi community, which involve cooperation from both central and local governments as well as the international community. These steps include: bringing the perpetrators to justice, tracking missing Yazidi persons, compensating the victims, and starting the actual reconstruction of Sinjar.

Prime Minister Al-Sudani supervised the laying of the foundation for the modern village project in Kojo via remote video connection on Thursday. The project, funded by the US Agency for International Development and implemented jointly by the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Development Programme, will include 134 housing units, a health center, and a school.

In August 2014, ISIS launched a campaign against the Yazidi minority after seizing several Iraqi cities. The campaign included ethnic cleansing through mass executions, forced conversions, widespread sexual violence, and the slaughter of thousands of Yazidis. ISIS enslaved over 6,500 women and children and displaced more than 350,000 people into refugee camps, according to UN data.

In 2019, the Kurdistan Regional Parliament voted to recognize the Yazidi suffering as genocide and declared August 3rd as a day of commemoration for the tragic event.

Kojo village, located in Sinjar, south of the Sinjar Mountains in Nineveh, is one of the disputed areas and is predominantly inhabited by Yazidis. The village gained international attention in 2014 due to the Yazidi genocide committed by ISIS.