Amnesty report highlights rape of Yazidi women

Special to The Tribune

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Shyam Bhatia in London

The torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence suffered by women and girls from Iraq’s Yazidi minority who were abducted by Islamic State (ISIS) have been highlighted in a new report published by Amnesty International.

Based on interviews with more than 40 Yazidi women who escaped their IS captors, the Amnesty report, entitled, ‘Escape from hell- Torture, sexual slavery in Islamic State captivity in Iraq’, described what happened to hundreds and possibly thousands of Yazidi women and girls forcibly married, “sold” or given as “gifts” to IS fighters or their supporters. Often, captives were forced to convert to Islam, the report adds.

“Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls have had their lives shattered by the horrors of sexual violence and sexual slavery in IS captivity,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Advisor.

“Many of those held as sexual slaves are children – girls aged 14, 15 or even younger. IS fighters are using rape as a weapon in attacks amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Amnesty says the women and girls are among thousands of Yazidis from the Sinjar region in north-west Iraq who have been targeted since August in a wave of ethnic cleansing by IS fighters bent on wiping out ethnic and religious minorities in the area.

Its report explains that the horrors endured in IS captivity have left the women and girls so severely traumatized that some have been driven to end their own lives.

One of the highlighted cases involves a 19-year-old called Jilan who committed suicide while being held captive in Mosul because she feared she would be raped, her brother told Amnesty International.

Wafa, 27, another former captive, told Amnesty International how she and her sister attempted to end their lives one night after their captor threatened them with forced marriage.

Crisis Response Adivsor Ms Rovera explains: “The physical and psychological toll of the horrifying sexual violence these women have endured is catastrophic. Many of them have been tortured and treated as chattel. Even those who have managed to escape remain deeply traumatised.