STOP ONGOING EZIDI GENOCIDE

9th December 2021 marks 73rd anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the International Day of Commemoration and
Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.
On this occasion Ezidi people call up the International community:
Ezidis are ethno-religious and indigenous people as earliest known inhabitants of
Mesopotamia, who have been part of human civilization for thousands of years. Ezidis
practice their own culture and language, descending from ancient Mesopotamian
civilizations, which has truly and strongly written a history thousands of years old which
is also characterized by assimilation, forced conversion, massacre, oppression and
Genocide, as Ezidi community has always been subject to discrimination, isolation, and
attempts at annihilation.
The last of these heinous acts were on the 3rd of August 2014, when the so-called Islamic
State (ISIS) invaded the region of Shingal in northern Iraq, and started an elaborate
genocidal campaign to destroy the Ezidi community. Men were killed, women and girls
were abducted to become sex slaves and young boys were taken to be brainwashed. ISIS
destroyed everything, burned houses and the few infrastructures that existed. On the first
day of ISIS’s attacks, 1,293 Ezidis were killed because they were considered unbelievers;
68 temples and religious sides and were destroyed, 6417 people were kidnapped to be
sold or reduced to slavery.
Today, there are 90 mass graves discovered, 360,000 people displaced from their place of
residence and approximately 100,000 Ezidis have fled Iraq to seek refuge all over the
western world.
Nowdays, the whole community faces challenges of peace, security, and well-being, our
genocide does not belong to the past, It is still ongoing with more than 2,000 women still
in captivity, 90 mass graves have been discovered and most of the community living in
inhumane conditions in camps.
On Genocide Prevention Day, The International community must act urgently to stop the
ongoing Ezidi genocide. Ezidi people call upon international authorities and communities
to take a led and recognize Ezidi Genocide officially, intervene in bringing the terrorist
before justice, participate in the process of rehabilitation and stand in solidarity with
victims and survivors.