In August 2014, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacked the Yazidi religious minority living in the area of Mount Sinjar in Nineveh governorate, Iraq. We conducted a ...retrospective household survey to estimate the number and demographic profile of Yazidis killed and kidnapped.
The survey covered the displaced Yazidi population from Sinjar residing in camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Fieldwork took place between 4 November and 25 December, 2015. A systematic random sample of 1,300 in-camp households were interviewed about the current household composition and any killings and kidnappings of household members by ISIS. Of the 1,300 interviewed households, 988 were Yazidi from Sinjar. Yazidi households contained 6,572 living residents at the time of the survey; 43 killings and 83 kidnappings of household members were reported. We calculated the probability of being killed and kidnapped by dividing the number of reported killings and kidnappings by the number of sampled Yazidis at risk, adjusting for sampling design. To obtain the overall toll of killings and kidnappings, those probabilities were multiplied by the total Yazidi population living in Sinjar at the time of the ISIS attack, estimated at roughly 400,000 by the United Nations and Kurdish officials. The demographic profile of those killed and kidnapped was examined, distinguishing between children and adults and females and males. We estimated that 2.5% of the Yazidi population was either killed or kidnapped over the course of a few days in August 2014, amounting to 9,900 (95% CI 7,000-13,900) people in total. An estimated 3,100 (95% CI 2,100-4,400) Yazidis were killed, with nearly half of them executed-either shot, beheaded, or burned alive-while the rest died on Mount Sinjar from starvation, dehydration, or injuries during the ISIS siege. The estimated number kidnapped is 6,800 (95% CI 4,200-10,800). Escapees recounted the abuses they had suffered, including forced religious conversion, torture, and sex slavery. Over one-third of those reported kidnapped were still missing at the time of the survey. All Yazidis were targeted regardless of age and sex, but children were disproportionately affected. They were as likely as adults to be executed but constituted 93.0% (95% CI 71.9-98.6) of those who died on Mount Sinjar. Moreover, children only accounted for 18.8% (95% CI 8.4-36.9) of those who managed to escape captivity. A sensitivity analysis suggests that the actual toll of killings and kidnappings may be underestimated in our data because of survival bias. The uncertainty associated with inference from a small sample of in-camp households and the reliance on a rough figure of 400,000 for extrapolation to the total Yazidi population of Sinjar at the time of the ISIS attack are the main limitations of this study.
Consistent with other existing evidence, our data provide a clear indication of the severity of the ISIS attack against the Yazidis in terms of both the number and demographic profile of those targeted.
Holding on Cheng, Anita
Canadian Medical Association journal (CMAJ),
06/2022, Letnik:
194, Številka:
25
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The Yazidi are a small minority people who lived in the mountains of Sinjar, in Iraq. They were farmers; we kept sheep. We lived quiet lives. Here, Cheng relates the story of a Yazidi family and the ...atrocities they suffered.
Background: The traditional food of the Yezidis and Kurds of Armenia has some particularities and differences compared with the traditional cuisine of Armenians. Methods: Ethnobotanical data ...collected during fieldworks in 2013–2015 in Armenia via interviews, direct observations and sampling of used plants for identification of species. Results: Traditional dishes of Yezidis and Kurds are simple. They are mostly made from or contain as a main component lamb and milk products (sometimes beef and chicken, but never pork). The main vegetal components of their traditional food are represented by cultivated cereals, grains, and herbs of wild plants. Edible plants gathered from the wild are used primarily for nutritional purposes, for flavoring prepared meals and milk products, and for tea. Discussion: We correlate these distinctions with the transhumant pastoral lifestyle of the Yezidi and Kurdish people.
After conquering large swathes of northern Iraq, the Islamic State undertook an aggressive genocidal campaign against the Yezidi people in which they not only executed and enslaved thousands of ...innocent civilians, but also damaged or destroyed several key Yezidi temples and shrines. Drawing on a small sample of in-depth semi-structured interviews with Yezidi men and women from two regions conquered by the Islamic State, this article documents the effect this wave of persecution has had on these Yezidi individuals. It finds that the attacks by the Islamic State on Yezidis and their heritage sites have caused considerable suffering among the community, in part because of their inability to practise their intangible religious rituals and customs. However, the Yezidi people have also demonstrated remarkable resistance and resilience to the Islamic State genocide in terms of returning to their ancient homelands, reconstructing their heritage sites and the re-emergence of their intangible religious heritage practices. The article concludes by noting that the new insights gleaned from these interviews are a step towards better understanding the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage in the wake of conflict, genocide and mass heritage destruction.
In recent years, Islamic terrorism has manifested itself with an unexpectedly destructive force. Despite the fact that Islamic terrorism commences locally in most cases, it has spread its terror ...worldwide. In August 2014, when troops of the self-proclaimed 'Islamic State' conquered areas of northern Iraq, they turned on the long-established religious minorities in the area with tremendous brutality, especially towards the Yazidis. Vast numbers of men were executed, and women and children were abducted and willfully subjected to sexual violence. With the aim of systematic destruction of the Yazidi community, the religious minority was to be eliminated and the will of the victims broken. The medical and mental health issues arising from the combination of subjective, collective, and cultural traumatization, as well as the subsequent migrant and refugee crisis, are therefore extraordinary and require novel and wise concepts of integrated medical care.
The International Yezidi Theological Academy established in Tbilisi is a breakthrough initiative in the history of Yezidism. The objective of my study is to describe the environment in which it was ...founded, its goals, leading figures and courses taught. The main part of the article is preceded by a brief description of Yezidism and its religious principles, which, due to the ban on writing, have been spread for centuries orally and have not been codified in writing. The following section outlines the changes that have taken place among Yezidis living in Transcaucasia, especially since the 20th century, when the ban on writing was widely violated, as well as the initiatives taken to preserve their cultural and religious identity. The latest of these initiatives is the Yezidi Theological Academy that provides Yezidis with traditional religious knowledge in an academic style.
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