2024 marks 10 years since the Islamic State (IS) invaded the Sinjar region of Iraq, slaughtering thousands of Yazidis in an attempt to eradicate their community. A decade later, many IS members have yet to be prosecuted for their acts, and many Yazidi victims remain in captivity or are still missing.

The mass murder 

On August 3, 2014, around 400,000 Yazidis fled to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, while tens of thousands escaped up Mount Sinjar. There, many died from severe hunger and dehydration while waiting to be rescued by international forces, according to Yazidi-led nonprofit Nadia’s Initiative. Those who could not escape were either killed or captured and forced to endure horrific abuses like enslavement, forced labor, torture, and rape. 

IS considered the Yazidis infidels and aimed to ethnically cleanse the territory, so all Yazidi men were killed, while women were captured, forced to convert, sexually enslaved, and sold into forced marriages. 

Sexual violence was also used as a weapon, with the belief that abusing Yazidi women would fracture the community from within. By targeting women, who are excluded from the Yazidi community if they have sexual relations outside their religious group, IS hoped to erase Yazidi identity.

Over the course of two weeks, IS captured over 6,300 Yazidi women and children with over 2,500 still missing today, according to the Office of the UN’s High Comissioner for Human Rights and the Free Yezidi Foundation.

Today, few survivors of this genocide have returned home, as 200,000 remain displaced in refugee camps in Kurdistan and Syria, while many others are still under IS control and missing, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The exhumation of mass graves

The identification and exhumation of mass graves across Iraq continue, with approximately 70 of the 200 discovered graves in the region having been opened, according to the UN Investigative team for Crimes Committed by ISIL. 

THE WHY’s film of the month for November, ‘If the Dead Come Home’ by Aaron Weintraub, reveals the challenges faced by families searching for their loved ones and the process of identifying bodies in the Yazidi mass graves.

But what if the dead are found and really do come home? 

Doctor and professor Jan Kizilhan explains that the trauma endured by Yazidi survivors eases when remains of their missing relatives are found: 

“It is a difficult time, but one that is important for healing the psyche: they realize that their loved ones are no longer alive and can say goodbye to them and grieve for them.”

Kizilhan himself was one of the main characters in THE WHY’s film from 2018 ‘I was a Yazidi Slave’ which also can be watched free on our YouTube channel.

In search of justice

This month’s film, ‘If the Dead Come Home’ portrays the difficulty the identification and exhumation of mass graves entail, and points out the fact that over 30 mass graves remain unopened out of the 81 identified ones in the Sinjar region. 

‘If the Dead Come Home’ is not merely a film about past events. It is a call to recognize what is still happening today. As Nadia’s Initiative states, 'the international community has not fulfilled its responsibility to prosecute perpetrators, and no international body or Iraqi court has tried ISIS members for sexual violence or genocide.' 

You can watch ‘If The Dead Come Home’ on our YouTube channel until the end of November.