The Yazidi Genocide: 5,000~ (aug 3, 2014 – jul 1, 2017)

Description:

The Yazidi Genocide was carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL/Da'esh) against the Yazidi religious and ethnic minority in Sinjar region, northern Iraq between August 3, 2014 (initial ISIS attack on Sinjar) and 2017 (Iraq declared victory over ISIS, though some Yazidis remained in captivity beyond this date), with an estimated death toll between 2,100-4,400 (2017 PLOS Medicine journal survey with 95% confidence interval) and 5,000 (UN initial estimate), with approximately 3,100 killed according to the most rigorous demographic study, including nearly half executed by shooting, beheading, or burning alive, while the rest died on Mount Sinjar from starvation, dehydration, or injuries during the ISIS siege.

ISIS forces also engaged in kidnapping and enslaving 6,800-10,800 Yazidis (95% confidence interval from demographic survey, with UN reporting approximately 6,000-7,000 women and girls specifically), systematic sexual slavery and genocidal rape of Yazidi women and girls as young as nine years old who were sold in bazaars as "spoils of war," forced conversion to Islam or death, mass executions of Yazidi men and elderly women in over 80 mass graves throughout Sinjar, separation of families with boys under puberty taken from mothers for indoctrination and forced recruitment as child soldiers, the Kocho village massacre where approximately 700 male villagers were executed on August 15, 2014 after ISIS separated men from women and children, burial alive of women and children, torture, beheading, burning alive, siege of 50,000 Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar facing starvation and dehydration, systematic destruction of Yazidi villages and property to prevent return, destruction of schools, hospitals, homes, burning of farms, disabling electrical networks, polluting water sources, rape to ensure children born to Yazidi women would be considered Muslim under Iraq's patrilineal nationality law (continuing genocide through prevention of Yazidi births), and complete displacement of all 400,000 Yazidis living in Sinjar (71% of global Yazidi population displaced).

It has been labeled as genocide by the United Nations (UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in March 2015, UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria in August 2017 stating ISIS "committed the crime of genocide" and it was "ongoing," and UN Investigative Team UNITAD in 2021 establishing "clear and convincing evidence that genocide was committed by ISIL against the Yazidi"), the United States (U.S. House of Representatives and State Department), the United Kingdom (House of Commons unanimous vote in April 2016), Germany (Parliament recognition and first country to criminally convict ISIS members of Yazidi genocide in 2021 courts, with three such verdicts to date), Canada (Parliament recognition), Armenia (National Assembly in January 2018), Iraq (Parliament passing Yazidi Survivors Law in March 2021 determining ISIS atrocities as "genocide and crimes against humanity"), Australia (Parliament), the European Parliament (February 2016), the Council of Europe, approximately 20 countries total including Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, France, and others, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad who has advocated globally for recognition, numerous genocide scholars and human rights organizations, and international consensus among legal experts.

The genocide has achieved near-universal recognition with minimal controversy over classification—one of the clearest cases of genocide since the Holocaust due to ISIS's explicit intent to destroy Yazidis documented in ISIS's own publications (Dabiq magazine stating "their continual existence to this day is a matter that Muslims should question"), systematic targeting of the group, and all elements of genocide clearly present.

The attack and Mount Sinjar siege:
On August 3, 2014, ISIS fighters surrounded and attacked Sinjar, a predominantly Yazidi town in northern Iraq. Within 72 hours, ISIS emptied nearly all Yazidi villages.

Approximately 50,000 Yazidis fled to Mount Sinjar where they became trapped, surrounded by ISIS militants, without food or water in extreme heat. Children accounted for 93% of those who died on Mount Sinjar from dehydration, starvation, and injuries. U.S., U.K., and coalition forces conducted emergency airdrops while Kurdish PKK and YPG forces opened a humanitarian corridor evacuating survivors. Thousands died before rescue.
The Kocho massacre:

Kocho village experienced delayed fate—ISIS delayed its assault allowing false hope. On August 15, 2014, ISIS gathered approximately 1,200 remaining Yazidis at the village school, separated women/children upstairs from men/adolescent boys downstairs, then systematically executed approximately 700 males. Women and children were transported to Syria for sexual slavery. Kocho symbolizes the genocide's systematic nature.

Sexual slavery and ongoing captivity:
Approximately 6,000-7,000 Yazidi women and girls were enslaved, with ISIS officially regulating the sex slave trade through religious rulings. Survivors report being repeatedly sold, gifted, raped, and tortured. Over half have escaped or been rescued, but approximately 2,700-3,000 remain missing as of 2024—presumed dead, held in Syria/Turkey camps, or too afraid to identify as Yazidi. Children born to Yazidi women from ISIS rapes face rejection under Iraq's law designating them Muslim, perpetuating genocide by preventing Yazidi births and continuation of the faith.

Displacement and current crisis:
Ten years after genocide, approximately 150,000-200,000 Yazidis remain displaced in camps in Iraqi Kurdistan, unable to return to Sinjar which remains destroyed with unexploded ordnance, no infrastructure, and disputed governance between Iraqi federal and Kurdish regional governments. Approximately 150,000 have attempted return but face extreme hardship. An estimated 120,000-200,000 Yazidis fled Iraq entirely, with Germany hosting 200,000 (largest diaspora). The Yazidi community is shattered globally.

Accountability achievements and gaps:
Germany has convicted three ISIS members of Yazidi genocide—the only genocide convictions to date. Iraq passed compensation law but reconstruction remains inadequate. UNITAD collected evidence for trials but Iraq is not ICC member, limiting international prosecution. Over 80 mass graves remain, with only some exhumed. No senior ISIS leaders prosecuted specifically for Yazidi genocide. Nadia Murad, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, continues advocating for justice and accountability, stating "much work remains" despite genocide recognition.

The Yazidi genocide represents the 74th genocide in Yazidi historical memory (they had survived 73 previous genocides over centuries), making them one of the most persecuted peoples in history, targeted for their unique monotheistic faith that extremists falsely label "devil worship."

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