Iraqi move to promote rights of Yazidis to compensate for ISIS violations

Mohamed Shaat

Within the framework of Iraq’s tendencies to enhance the rights of the Iraqi components and sects, parliamentary leaders called for activating the laws related to these components to consolidate their rights that were violated during the last period and to compensate them for the suffering they were subjected to at the hands of ISIS.

First Deputy Parliament Speaker Mohsen Al-Mandalawi stressed the need to activate the Yazidi Women Survivors Law, saying on Twitter, “We call for establishing all their rights and demands and compensating them for the killing, displacement and captivity that befell them at the hands of ISIS,” adding, “in addition to activating the Yazidi Survivors Law and returning them to their areas of residence quickly.”

Significance of the timing

Iraqi political analyst Dr. Ghazi Faisal appreciated Mandalawi’s call to activate the Yazidi Survivors Law, pointing out that this announcement at this time is significant because it coincides with the Yazidis’ celebration of their feast, the return of young men and women to their cities, and the revival of religious rites and rituals as part of the Iraqi cultural heritage and the ancient roots of the ancient Iraqi civilization.

Faisal explained in exclusive statements to the Reference that this step is also a message of emphasizing the right of the Yazidis to a free and dignified life and to enjoy the human rights guaranteed in the constitution and religious and sectarian freedoms, as well as to compensate a large number of them who have been subjected to grave violations represented in rape, murder, displacement, captivity and various forms of psychological torture and serious violations of human rights.

He pointed out that the activation of the Survivors Law for Yazidis, Christians and others came due to the crimes committed against them after ISIS seized Mosul and other areas in 2014 and the serious violations committed by ISIS elements, especially rape, kidnapping, the selling of Yazidi women in markets, and other systems of slavery that the Yazidis lived through, in addition to the genocide and murder committed against the Yazidis, the forced displacement of Christians, and other serious crimes against humanity and serious violations of human rights.

Faisal said that this law was legislated to provide important compensation to the Yazidis, in addition to a monthly salary that guarantees their human and material rights and health care, as the implementation of this law supports the International Organization for Migration and a number of humanitarian organizations in European countries and United Nations organizations to provide humanitarian care for the Yazidis who have been subjected to violations.

He said that the commitment of the Iraqi law enforcement authorities to activate this law includes everyone who has been subjected to such violations, either by registering through the private electronic platform or by coming to the relevant departments to confirm their testimony and document all the injustices and violations they were subjected to by law enforcement.

Faisal pointed out that the activation of the law guarantees the rights of the Yazidis who have been violated and is part of the Iraqi human rights to a decent life, to own property, the right to work, or the right to compensation in the event of material, moral or other violations.

Component rights

This step comes as part of the Iraqi government’s steps to guarantee the rights of the Iraqi components, as the Council of Ministers approved in January that about a quarter of a million Yazidis would enjoy owning lands and homes, following 47 years of their persistent demand for that.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani issued a joint statement with officials from the United Nations, in which it was stated that the decision, which came after 47 years of “depriving” the Iraqi Yazidis of their homes in Sinjar, will be followed by other decisions within the prime minister’s work schedule to ensure the principle of full citizenship, justice and equality.

The Federal Supreme Court also issued a ruling on the equal right of all Iraqis to own property without discrimination in Federal Case No. 8 of 2023, in which the plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of Legislative Order No. 12 of 2004 as far as the matter relates to the annulment of Resolution 117 of 2000.