President Nechirvan Barzani issued the following statement on the approval of the Yezidi Female Survivors Law in Iraq’s Parliament:

I thank all the blocs in Iraq’s Parliament for passing the Yezidi Female Survivors Law. This is an important step towards compensating our Yezidi sisters and brothers and reassuring them of their safety and security.

We ask for a complete and speedy implementation of all the articles in the adopted law, since all female survivors, the children and their families are in urgent need of broad assistance.

Our Yezidi sisters and brothers faced genocide and heinous crimes as their women and children were abducted and their men were mass-murdered. The destruction of large parts of Shingal district and the forced mass-migration of the Yezidi people need close attention as well as additional laws in order to reassure the Yezidis that they can safely return to their home areas and that reconstruction efforts and public services will resume in their regions. The full implementation of the Shingal Agreement is an important step towards these objectives.

Through the Kidnapped Yazidis Rescue Office, we have so far managed to rescue 3545 Yezidi women, men and children. We reassure our Yezidi sisters and brothers that we will continue with our duty of rescuing and uncovering the fate of 2768 other Yezidis who are still missing.

Nechirvan Barzani
The President of the Kurdistan Region