MISSOURI, USA: The massive funeral earlier this month of 104 Yazidi victims of the Daesh massacre in Iraq’s Nineveh region remains another sad time for a religious community that has been forever torn apart by what happened in an attempt to eradicate.
As the remains of the men, identified and exhumed from large graves, were laid to rest on February 9 in the town of Kocho near Mount Sinjar, video footage and photos of the event reminded the the world of the horrific crimes that Yazidis Iraqi subjected to less than seven years ago.
The UN has long proven that Daesh genocide against the small community. The big question is, what, if any, are their chances of getting justice?
Justice and retribution need more than accusing perpetrators of crimes against the Yazidis. (AFP)
At least the 104 who murdered Yazidis received some honor in death. In Baghdad, they were treated to a tomb at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, after which the remains were taken to their homeland in northern Iraq.
Tens of thousands of other Yazidis who lost their lives at the hands of the self-proclaimed Islamic State remain countless. Their bodies appear to lie in several other large unmarked graves created by the Daesh terrorists who invaded the area between 2014 and 2017. The families of the victims are still waiting. to know what happened to them.
According to the BBC, “An estimated 550,000 Yazidis were believed to be living in Iraq before IS invaded on 3 August 2014. About 360,000 Yazidis fled and found shelter elsewhere. ”
Of the many Yazidis that Daesh turned into slaves during their horrific rule in the region, Amnesty International says that about 2,000 children saved today are not yet receiving the care and rehabilitation that is needed. they need. The towns and cities of Yazidi looted by Daesh are still in ruins, with their former inhabitants still unable to return and instead mourning in the camps of abstract people across northern Iraq.
Mourners gather around graves at a grand funeral for the Yazidi victims of the Daesh group in the northern Iraqi town of Kojo in Sinjar district on February 6, 2021. (Photo by Zaid Al-Obeidi / AFP )
Justice and retaliation for the Yazidis needs more than just accusing Daesh colleagues, rebuilding their communities and taking revenge on the survivors, however. The treatment of Iraqi and Kurdish society on Yazidis was a problem well before Daesh exploded on the scene.
Historically, Iraqi society was marginalized and mocked Yazidis for their religion, calling them “unbelievers” and “devil worshipers”. “In fact, Yazidi religion combines elements of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A popular misunderstanding about and demonization of the Yazidi community created one of the prerequisites for Daesh’s genocide effort.
Genocide scholars such as Helen Fein identify four main conditions that usually precede genocidal times: The first and perhaps most important of these is that the victims are excluded from the main group. Such prohibition may extend to denial of citizenship or membership of an organization.
When members of the group become perceived as subhuman (“devil worshipers” or “apostates”), the usual moral prohibitions against murder fall away. Iraqi and Kurdistani leaders must therefore work harder to promote a popular understanding of the Yazidis and their religion as a legitimate and important part of Iraqi culture and heritage.
The Yazidis and their place within Iraq need to be identified and respected rather than tolerated.
FASTINFORMATION
Yazidis feature both the Bible and the Quran, but much of their own tradition is oral.
It is impossible to turn to Yazidism, just to be born into it.
An estimated 550,000 Yazidis lived in Iraq before Daesh’s invasion in August 201.
The second scenario for genocides is crisis or opportunities from political holidays. This happened in Iraq when the federal government and its army failed the people of Iraq. Baghdad’s failure to rule allowed popular discontent to escalate, especially among Iraq’s Sunni Arab population, and paved the way for Daesh to emerge.
When the Iraqi army, which had the full leadership of incompetent political officials of the Nouri al-Maliki regime, fled against lower Daesh forces, the ensuing crisis allowed the radicals to run amok.
Daesh’s rule over much of central and northern Iraq from 2014 to 2017 then fulfilled the third prediction for genocide, which comes in the form of a dictatorial state. Free from scrutiny and the balance of democratic politics, the leadership of the group was not accountable to anyone and could commit murder no matter what it wanted.
Iraqi woman Yazidi will attend a candle watch on August 3, 2020, marking the sixth anniversary of the Daesh group’s attack on the Yazidi community in the northwestern Sinjar region. (Photo by Safin Hamed / AFP)
The fourth and final prediction for genocide comes in the form of opponents – especially powerful states in the international community – who are still willing to intervene. Fortunately, this turned out to be the necessary precedent for Daesh’s genocidal dreams in Iraq and Syria.
The US, Iran, various European countries, the government in Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and others have intervened to stop Daesh.
Rescue efforts in late summer 2014 to escape from Yazidis on Mount Shingal captured the imagination of the world, and thanks to an already small community were wiped out.
By 2017 Mosul was liberated from Daesh control, with the last remaining areas of Daesh in Iraq following the suit shortly afterwards.
Moving forward and giving Yazidis a measure of justice for what has been done for them will require a number of things. Certainly so many people who have committed the crimes against Yazidis must be brought to justice. This is not impossible, but it requires political will and resources.
Yazidi towns and cities need to rebuild faster and more sustainably. Even then, it will be difficult to persuade Yazidi’s people to return within a dubious political context. The PKK, Shiite militias, Iraqi government forces and KRG forces all live in Yazidi areas such as Shingal, with Turkish air strikes often occurring as well.
Iraqi Yazidis will attend a candlelight vigil in the Sharya region on August 3, 2020, marking the sixth anniversary of the Daesh group attack on the Yazidi community in the northwestern Sinjar region. (Photo by Safin Hamed / AFP)
Whatever the interests of the local population, all of these actors want to influence and control the future of the Yazidi region. The quickest way out of such lies is to comply with the demands of various Yazidi groups themselves.
They want higher levels of independence in their own country, which would allow them to prove their own boldness and prepare for their own security in cooperation with both Baghdad and the nearby KRG. The 2005 Iraqi Constitution allows, and even envies, the emergence of several regions outside one Iraqi region of Kurdistan.
This should be highly considered for both Yazidis and Shingal Christians and the Nineveh plains. Sunni Arabs in that area would be a minority of such an area, but they could have far better promises and protections than those of Yazidis and Christians in Iraq recently.
Yazidi women mourn at the funeral of Baba Sheikh Khurto Hajji Ismail, the spiritual leader of Yazidi religious minority, in the Iraqi city of Sheikhan, 50 km northeast of Mosul, on October 2, 2020. (Photo by Safin Hamed / AFP)
On a broader scale, Iraq needs to take steps to deliver on its constitutional promises to the Yazidis and other ethnic minorities more than just words on paper.
Article 2 of the Constitution of Iraq states, in Part One, “Islam is the official religion of the State and is the basis of legislation.” However, he states, in Part Two, “This Constitution guarantees the Islamic identity of the majority of the people of Iraq and guarantees full religious rights to freedom of religious belief and practice. half such as Christians, Yazidis, and Mandean Sabeans. ”
Awareness campaigns and legal campaigns to prevent discrimination against Yazidis and others could fulfill the promises from this area of the constitution. Just as Iraq in general has gone a long way in recognizing Iraqi Kurds as a legitimate and important part of Iraq, so too could Yazidis.
In this effort for a measure of justice, the international community should also offer all the assistance it can. As they continue to exterminate their dead from various great graves, the Yazidi community deserves at least this.
_____________
• David Romano is Thomas G. A strong professor of Middle Eastern Politics at Missouri State University