Ten years after Islamic State attacks in Iraq, families and activists still unable to rescue Yezidis from Syria

In some cases, women fear to identify themselves as Yezidi for fear of being forcibly separated from their children

‘I am very strong, but I am collapsing now. It has been ten years ... You must save those who are still in captivity’ - Hanifa Abbas, whose sister is believed to be in Al-Hol camp

Thousands of Yezidi survivors of atrocities committed by the Islamic State armed group remain missing, including hundreds indefinitely detained in north-east Syria, Amnesty International said today ahead of the ten-year anniversary of Islamic State’s lethal attack on the Yezidi community in Iraq.

Activists estimate there are large numbers of Yezidis held in the sprawling system of detention holding those with perceived Islamic State affiliation in north-east Syria. The system is run by the Autonomous Administration of the North and East Syria Region (autonomous authorities), with the support of the US-led military coalition established to defeat Islamic State.

Following Islamic State's territorial defeat in March 2019, an estimated 2,600 Yezidis remain missing, according to the Office for Kidnapped Yezidis in Dohuk. A significant proportion are believed to be in north-east Syria after being abducted and transported there.

Hundreds of Yezidi women and children are believed to be in Al-Hol detention camp, with some remaining trapped in conditions of captivity, slavery and other abuse by Islamic State affiliates. An unknown number of Yezidi boys and young men abducted as children are also believed to be held in a connected network of at least 27 detention facilities.

While those held in the detention facilities and Al-Hol camp who have come forward and identified themselves as Yezidi have been freed and repatriated to Iraq, Yezidi rights organisations and recently-repatriated Yezidis say there are many barriers for Yezidis who remain in detention to come forward. Some are too afraid, fearing they’ll be punished or killed by people affiliated with Islamic State in the detention facilities if they attempt to return to their families. Some were told by Islamic State that their families would harm them or believe that all members of the Yezidi community have been killed. Many were too young when they were abducted to even now remember they are Yezidi.

A further barrier is that many of the remaining Yezidi women and girls in Al-Hol have young children as a result of sexual violence by Islamic State members. Some of these women have well-founded fears that they could be forcibly separated from their children in violation of international human rights law if they’re identified and repatriated. In 2020, Amnesty documented a pattern of Yezidi women being separated from their children after being identified in Al-Hol. Yezidi women continue to be at risk of being separated from children born as a result of sexual violence.

Amnesty has interviewed four Yezidi women and children who had recently been identified in the detention system, five family members, and 13 members of Yezidi rights organisations and activists.

Nahla*, a Yezidi girl who was repatriated to Iraq, told Amnesty she was brought to Al-Hol camp with the family of her last captor, a family affiliated with Islamic State. She said:

“The family I lived with in Al-Hol made me care for their animals. They treated me like a slave.”

Nahla’s mother Nufa* told Amnesty that the search for her daughter was fraught, and that Nahla struggled to identify as Yezidi before they were reunited: “She couldn’t remember if she is Yezidi or not ... she forgot most things.”

Sana* was aged 16 when captured by Islamic State and repatriated from Al-Hol camp after being identified during a security operation by the autonomous authorities. She told Amnesty that she hid her Yezidi identity for years due to fear, explaining that before the defeat of Islamic State one of her captors showed her a video that he said showed a so-called “honour” killing of a Yezidi girl returning from captivity and told her there was no way her community would want her back. Fearing she would also be killed if she returned to Iraq, she hid inside the camp. Sana* said:

“I wanted to come forward, but I was worried my family wouldn’t accept me … I’d tear up my tent and move it often, I was always moving, I didn’t want to get to know anyone, or for them to get to know me. Sometimes, I’d wonder if I should reveal myself, then I would think of the video.”

Hanifa Abbas told Amnesty she spent years looking for her five sisters who were abducted by Islamic State. She managed to bring four of her sisters back home and identified her fifth sister from photographs collected by a Yezidi activist in Al-Hol. However, Hanifa’s sister has not identified herself to the camp authorities as Yezidi. Hanifa believes her sister may have children in the camp and fears she will be separated from them if she identifies herself as Yezidi. She told Amnesty:

“So many women, if they knew they had the option to stay with their children, they would come forward.”

Hanifa called for more support from the international community, and said: “I am very strong, but I am collapsing now. It has been ten years ... You must save those who are still in captivity.”

Amani*, a Yezidi woman returned to Iraq from Al Hol, told Amnesty that she was forced to separate from her children who are now in north-east Syria: “Everyone says they are Islamic State children ... I have some of their clothes and I take them out and smell them. Of course I want to be with them. They are a part of my heart.”

Lauren Aarons, Amnesty International’s Senior Adviser on Gender, Conflict and International Justice, said:

“The Yezidi community suffered unthinkable harm at the hands of Islamic State.

“Ten years after Islamic State first launched its attack against the Yezidis, their suffering continues today, as thousands remain missing.

“Many Yezidis who were mistakenly swept up following the collapse of Islamic State have been languishing in indefinite detention in dire and life-threatening conditions in north-east Syria.

“These Yezidis must now be identified, freed and provided with the ongoing support they need.”

Dire conditions

Amnesty has documented systematic torture or other ill-treatment in the detention facilities in north-east Syria, and found that in at least two of the facilities hundreds of men and boys have died due to torture and grossly inhumane conditions. Basim* was held in Panorama detention facility and came forward as a Yezidi in 2022. Now aged 18 and back in Iraq, he said that during his time in Panorama and other detention facilities he witnessed dozens of men dying due to torture or other ill-treatment and rampant disease. Basim* told Amnesty:

“I am 100% sure there are other Yezidi boys and young men in the prisons. They fear speaking out because the other prisoners could hurt them. Nobody ever came to ask if I was Yezidi. If anyone had asked, I would have gone in the first minute ... Now is the time to check for the Yezidis, while there is still a chance to find them.”

The dire conditions in Al-Hol camp amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and all those detained in Al-Hol are being held by the autonomous authorities indefinitely without charge or trial - the vast majority for more than five years - in violation of international law. The autonomous authorities told Amnesty they do not have full control of Al-Hol and that Islamic State has regrouped in the camp.

No system for identifying Yezidis

Yezidi rights organisations and activists have been working with the autonomous authorities to identify Yezidis in detention in north-east Syria, coordinating between families and security forces and in some cases collecting their own intelligence from inside Al-Hol. There is currently no system or organised way to engage with the authorities about missing Yezidis. Several Yezidi rights organisations and activists have said they have good relationships with the autonomous authorities, though these relationships are based on personal contacts.

Abdullah Shrem, a Yezidi activist who has spent the last ten years working to identify missing Yezidis, told Amnesty: “Islamic State is gone, but we still have so many people in captivity. We feel totally ignored by the international community.”

Another Yezidi activist told Amnesty he had a list of nine names of Yezidi boys and young men he believed to be in the Panorama detention facility but had no way of liaising with the authorities to secure their release. Amnesty is insisting that the authorities ensure that Yezidi rights organisations and other relevant organisations working in a human rights-compliant manner have access to detention facilities and Al-Hol camp. The Iraqi authorities should also give relevant organisations access to Jeddah 1 camp, where Iraqis from Al-Hol are first returned to Iraq, and initiate efforts to identify Yezidis among returning Iraqis.

Other countries, particularly the US and UK, should provide support for all initiatives to identify missing Yezidis that honour survivors’ rights and agency, and UN agencies should dramatically scale up their efforts on behalf of missing Yezidis. Donors should also consider supporting access to DNA testing to identify Yezidis or people from other minority communities who were abducted as children.

UN-recognised genocide

Beginning in August 2014, Islamic State carried out a targeted attack on the Yezidi community in Iraq which the UN has recognised as genocide. More than 3,000 Yezidi men, women and children were unlawfully killed and at least 6,800 more - primarily women and children - were abducted. Islamic State perpetrated a catalogue of horrific violations against Yezidis, subjecting women and girls to sexual and other forms of slavery, and forcing boys to fight as child soldiers.

Note: *Names have been changed.