I recently attended a small hill program in a beautiful day to remember a dark anniversary: Eleven years after the Islamic State against Yazidi started its genocide in Iraq, Yazidi speakers shared their challenges and needs.
The Capital Visitors Center called in a small room, shared the stories of courage and pain. But no Congress member participated, nor did any senior administration officials participate. It was a disturbing symbol of how policy makers have forgotten their plight, as well as a warning signal to reduce interest from both Republican and Democrats in the issue of religious harassment.
In August 2014, in North Iraq, A Massacre startedIsis killed men and boys by slaves and raping women and girls, as they considered something different. After eleven years, the Yazidi community still struggles to recover.
I have been deeply associated with this community from my time in the government, first in the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and then in the state department, in a special envoy role in Obama and Trump administration, focused on religious minorities in the Middle East during the administration.
Yazidi community has become clear about them Requirements For years: They want peace, for safety and dignity in their homes, are responsible for missing loved ones. But they need help.
Unfortunately, thousands of Yezidis still live Displaced person camp Around the northern Iraq, a great failure by the international community and the Iraqi government. Despite the global recognition of ISIS’s atrocities, efforts to see Yezidis back in large numbers have decreased.
But many Yezidis may not be ready to give up the relative security of camps, because Fear of Islamic State Removing and Turkish air strikes. And although efforts have been made to solve the situation in Sinjar and other disputed areas, Yazidis is largely excluded from the discussions affecting their future.
Sadly, more than 2,500 Yezidi women and girls remain. Missing and unawareThe remaining people going home to Syria have sometimes good news, but these reports are rarely rare.
Eleven years after the massacre, many Yejidis believe that loved ones live with their prisoners at the Al-Holl camp in Eastern Syria. But the time is going on to save children who are growing up and being inspired. The US and the international communities can do more to help the missing discovery given the limited progress made so far.
Yezidis are alive because they have to do this for thousands of years. But as a Yazidi youth, who now lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, said, “The next generation deserves existence.”
Yezidis requires Congress – both chambers and both sides – to recall and provide resources to their plight. Administration needs to revive the efforts initiated during the first term to help them survive through political support and reconstruction assistance. However, no-shows were not encouraging in the incident.
Yezidis is one of the weakest religious minority communities throughout the Middle East. They face the same dangers as Christians and others, such as drews, which also require support. But Yezidis does not have comprehensive networks for rally assistance.
For more than a quarter of a century, since the Congress passed the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, the US has been a global leader in promoting the freedom of religion or trust at the international level. We have put this front and center based on our foreign policy, as well as based in values and our interests. was it right? No, but it was good, and it was more than other countries.
However, in the previous years, his monument was well participated in events. I am afraid that lack of participation by members and officials indicates a overall decline in support of American religious freedom propagation abroad.
Since 2014, I have come to know about Yazidi people and many of them have considered my friends. I have Viewed Lalish and his holy city American home in Lincoln – Two global centers of Yazidi life. I have been constantly influenced by their kind of feeling, firmness to impurities, and commitment to maintain my life and beliefs. And they are brave and strict, but are not indestructible.
At the end of the incident, a community member said, “Please remember Yazidis.” We will do? Will America remember them and millions of other religions that are suffering under oppressive systems that violate religious freedom? The persecuted people of the world are praying that we do not forget. And that we find a way to work.
Nox temperatureIn the Middle East and South/Central Asia served on religious minorities, Obama and the Trump administration served in the event of a special messenger. His book,Expiry Harassment: Charting the route for global religious freedomIn September, the Notre Dame was released by the Dame Press University.
