Mr. Ahmed Khudida Burjus:

Good afternoon everyone, on behalf of the Yazda and the Yazidi community I thank the members of the committee, the Chair, the clerk and the committee staff for organising this important event and for the invitation. I also thank the members of the committee for the previous discussion of Yazidi issues at its previous meeting. I thank as well the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, for his positive words about the Yazidi situation at the previous meeting.

The members of the committee will be aware the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, ISIS, committed genocide and other heinous human rights violations against religious and ethnic minority groups in Iraq and Syria. The Yazidis were specifically targeted for their identity. This systematic persecution led to the mass killing of an estimated 5,000 Yazidis, the abduction of approximately another 7,000 Yazidis, mostly women and children, the forced conversion of countless Yazidis, the systematic destruction of Yazidi religious and cultural sites, homes and farms and the forced displacement of an estimated 450,000 people in Iraq alone.

Since then, little progress has been made regarding the plight of the Yazidis. Around 2,800 Yazidis, mainly women and children, are still missing. Half of the community is still in internally displaced people, IDP, camps facing a miserable situation. In recent days, we saw a very large fire in the Sharya refugee camp which destroyed 400 tents and left more than 1,000 Yazidis homeless. Those who have returned to their home areas have very limited access to the most basic services. Many areas are still extensively mined and have not been rebuilt. Most importantly, there is an absence of justice, accountability and reparations after almost seven years of ongoing genocide. In addition, there is instability in Yazidi areas due to political insecurity and geopolitical conflict between national and regional players.

To discuss these issues, we have two speakers from Yazda. The first speaker is Ms Nasreen, a member of the Yazidi Survivor Network, YSN, and a Yazidi human rights activist. The second speaker will be Ms Natia Navrouzov, who is one of the leaders of Yazda and the head of our documentation and legal team, as well as being our legal advocacy director. Yazda is a global Yazidi organisation which tries to bring justice, healing and rejuvenation to vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria who have suffered or been affected by the genocidal campaign of ISIS in 2014. Yazda works on three main missions: humanitarian, justice and advocacy missions. As part of our humanitarian mission for the past six years, we have been providing services and supports to survivors of the ISIS genocide, people in IDPs and refugees. This has included, but has not been limited to, mental health, psychosocial support, case management, education, medical, healthcare, livelihood and legal supports. Our justice mission aims to bring justice to survivors through the documentation of ISIS crimes and filing cases against those accused of persecution. Our advocacy mission seeks recognition of the ISIS genocide and to empower survivors, like Ms Nasreen, to speak out about their experiences and anguish. I hand over now to Ms Nasreen.