ISIS genocide casts a shadow over Yazidi New Year celebration

LALISH, Iraq -- As members of Iraq's Yazidi community lit oil lamps Tuesday (April 18) to mark their New Year at the Lalish shrine in Dohuk province, some said they could not forget the pain their community has been through.

In 2014, the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) swept across swathes of Iraq, carrying out horrific violence against the Kurdish-speaking community.

ISIS massacred thousands of Yazidi men and abducted thousands of women and girls as sex slaves, destroyed civilian homes and infrastructure and forced many other members of the minority group into exile.

Thousands of Yazidis remain displaced or missing, while many lost their loved ones or bear lifelong scars from the experience.

Six years after Iraq declared victory over ISIS, the Yazidis came to Lalish barefoot and dressed in white, to mark their New Year, which celebrates the creation of the universe.

The men wore embroidered vests over their shirts, while women donned traditional head coverings, featuring gold coins.

As the sun set Tuesday over the Lalish stone shrine in northern Iraq, Yazidis began lighting oil lamps, 365 of them, one for each day of the year.

"Before, this was a time for celebration and our joy was immense. But today ... we cannot forget what we have been through," said Omar Sinan, who was attending the celebration with his children.

Eternal sorrow

When ISIS invaded Iraq in August 2014, one of the group's targets was Sinjar, the Yazidis' historic home on Ninawa Plains, in a remote corner of northern Iraq.

"Ever since the genocide, there is sadness in our hearts. It won't go away," said Sinan, a 37-year-old mathematics teacher.

"This sadness will live in us for eternity."

During the New Year celebration, Yazidis pay their respects at the graves of relatives, and those who can afford it slaughter a sheep and offer some of the meat to the poor.

Iraq's federal government in Baghdad has dedicated the first Wednesday of April as a holiday for the Yazidi community.

Before ISIS marched into their villages in 2014, there were 550,000 Yazidis nationwide out of a worldwide total of 1.5 million, including in neighbouring countries and the diaspora.

But after the massacres and the abductions, nearly 100,000 fled abroad, according to the United Nations (UN). Most went to Europe, Australia and Canada to try to build new lives.

Arabic-language teacher Faleh Jomaa, 60, was among those who decided to stay in Iraq with his wife and three children, unlike his four brothers and their families, who emigrated to Germany.

"The Yazidi community has suffered 74 genocides over time, but it rises again each time, like plants from the depth of the Earth," he said.

In January, Germany's parliament recognised the 2014 massacre of Yazidis by ISIS as a "genocide", following similar moves by parliaments in Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Waiting to return

In October 2020, the governments of Baghdad and Erbil signed an agreement intended to build stability in Sinjar and allow displaced Yazidis to return -- but progress has been slow, with reconstruction projects stalled.

The presence of Iran-backed militias in some areas liberated from ISIS -- including in villages near Sinjar -- has complicated the return of the displaced population, Al-Mashareq reported in January.

Between 2014 and 2017, after Iraqi forces drove ISIS out of certain areas, pro-Iran militias such as Kataib Hizbullah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Asaib Ahl al-Haq sought to establish their dominance in its place.

Militias have been blocking entry to these areas under the pretext that they have not been cleared of the remnants of war and that the militias are there to maintain security and prevent the return of extremist elements.

In March, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani's government allocated $38.5 million to rebuild Sinjar and villages in the Ninawa Plains.

But on Tuesday, al-Sudani said "political and security measures" have yet to be adopted to allow displaced Yazidis to return to Sinjar.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), more than 200,000 Yazidis who survived ISIS brutality are still displaced, living in and outside camps across Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

"The needs of displaced persons and returnees in Sinjar remain high," the IOM said in a report in January, noting a "lack of adequate shelter and basic services ... including running water, electricity, health care and education".

ISIS elements "destroyed around 80% of public infrastructure and 70% of civilian homes in Sinjar city and surrounding areas", it added.

Khawla Abdou, who fled with her husband and eight daughters to Germany, chose to return home this year to mark the New Year in Lalish.

"We came to pray to God on this sacred day so that he could free our daughters who are still held by the enemy," the 67-year-old said.

"May God hear our prayers and free our daughters. We cannot forget them, and we will never forget what happened in Sinjar."