Yazidis in Northern Iraq: A human rights crisis within the pandemic

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The coronavirus pandemic has affected nations and communities across the world, with cases nearing 50 million and deaths over a million and increasing globally. In Iraq, cases and deaths are rising exponentially every day, with close to 500,000 cases and 11,000 deaths in total. The situation is even worse in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Khanke, a town in the Duhok governorate in north-western Iraq, and home to more than 350,000 Yazidis with a significant portion of elderly inhabitants. The Yazidis are one of the oldest ethnic and religious communities retaining their faith, and have been victims of numerous persecutions throughout history—from the Ottoman Empire to recent violence by the Islamic State—mainly due to the misapprehension that they worship the devil. This false perception has led to their forceful conversions as well as many other abuses. Yazidi women in particular have been exposed to all possible forms of violence. Their exodus in 2014 led most of the community to the IDP camps where they now survive in dismal conditions, deprived of opportunities to earn a livelihood or to return home.

Human Rights Violation

Iraq is party to many principal international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) amongst others.

The nation’s plight of education is significantly worrisome. The right to education is a fundamental human right enshrined in the ICESCR. Article 34(1) of the Iraqi Constitution guarantees the right to education and defines it as a “fundamental factor in the progress of society”. The constitution states that primary education is mandatory and guarantees the right to be educated in one’s “mother tongue”. However, many Yazidi child survivors are not re-enrolled in school, after missing one or more years during their captivity. Although the authorities of the Iraqi central government, with the support of international organizations and NGOs, have taken steps to address this problem by establishing programs for accelerated learning, such programs are limited in their reach—difficult to access for many survivors due to bureaucratic hurdles—only available for the primary-level curriculum.

Article 12 of the ICESCR states: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” General Comment 14 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights clarifies that the “right to health facilities, goods and services” referenced in Article 12 of the Covenant includes “appropriate mental health treatment and care”. Critically, Yazidis have not only faced a high degree of physical human rights abuses, as psychological dimensions of conflict always escape an objective estimation. Cases of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other psychological disorders have been widely reported amongst the community. A gradual increase has been reported after the Covid-19 outbreak. Restrictions on movement have hindered humanitarian actors’ ability to distribute essential aid and also prevented them from delivering psychosocial support, thus aggravating the mental health crisis further, especially in places housing a largely traumatized population marked by years of persecution.

Furthermore, in Iraq, having a legal identity registered via a national identity card and other civil documents—such as welfare cards, passports, and certificates of birth, death and marriage—is instrumental in exercising other rights under law, such as moving freely within the country and accessing basic services such as health care and education. Having a legal identity also enables access to humanitarian assistance for displaced persons as well as family pensions and welfare. However, in Iraq, if a child is born to unmarried parents, as in almost all cases for Yazidi women who give birth to children as a result of sexual violence in captivity, proof of paternity is required. Iraqi law does not have any provisions on the registration of children where proof of paternity cannot be established, which means that it is extremely difficult or even impossible to register such children, which may lead to the violation of their right to be recognized as a person before the law. In addition, under Iraqi law, children with Muslim or “unknown” fathers are automatically registered as Muslim. Yazidi women with children born of sexual violence who seek to register their children are therefore required to register them as Muslim, which amounts to a violation of Iraq’s obligations under Articles 18 and 27 of the ICCPR, and Articles 8, 14 and 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Moreover, Article 132(2) of the Iraqi Constitution guarantees “compensation to the families of the martyrs and the injured as a result of terrorist acts”. Notably, this law only provides material compensation and restitution and fails to provide resources for survivors of sexual violence, for children recruited or used in hostilities, for those suffering from psychological trauma and for other profiles of victims common in the conflict involving IS.

An Opening for ISIS?

The ISIS has not been entirely eliminated in the area and the nation’s current unstable socio-political order may create an opening for them to exploit. Its exploitation of the post-2011 chaos in Syria to gain power is a precedent that must not be repeated. ISIS’s statement in its weekly newsletter, Al Naba, that “their globe-spanning war is to go on, even as the virus spreads” should be an eye-opener to member countries of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, a broad international coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and the Iraqi government. Many coalition countries have withdrawn troops from Iraq in the wake of the pandemic, citing the risk of contagion. This has led to a halt in the training of Iraqi forces. Amidst the pandemic response, a need to simultaneously maintain vigilance against ISIS’s local insurgent violence and international terrorism is imperative. Continued international cooperation and support in the fight against ISIS for front-line countries like Iraq is indispensable under present circumstances. If the international coalition support, which has already been destabilised by U.S.-Iran tensions, is further endangered by the coronavirus, it is unlikely that the Iraqi state will be able to contain ISIS insurgents in the absence of a unified military front.

Furthermore, the pandemic has stalled much of the fieldwork of United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD), significantly hindering the progress of the United Nations’ inquiry into ISIS’s crimes. UNITAD’s fourth annual report published in May 2020 to the Security Council included a number of items that the virus has effectively delayed. Additionally, demands for prosecution of ISIS’s crimes have been continuously neglected by the international community. No trial has been initiated in the International Criminal Court to date, despite reports by the UN Commission, OHCHR, Amnesty International and other prominent human rights organizations. War crimes and crimes against humanity are not codified as such by Iraqi law; neither is Iraq a signatory to the Rome Statute, which outlines these international crimes. ISIS suspects in Iraq are instead charged with violating provision 4 of the counterterrorism law, primarily for “ISIS membership, support, sympathy, or assistance”. This further strengthens the cause for international prosecutions.

The Way Forward

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) should, where present, monitor and report the impact of measures taken by Iraqi authorities to tackle Covid-19. UNITAD’s Psycho-Social Support services should be expanded to deal with the trauma caused to Yazidis under the present circumstances. The World Health Organization and the UN Refugee Agency must scale up mental health support in IDP camps. Additionally, humanitarian organisations must collaborate with the Iraqi government and local NGOs to provide additional support to mitigate the crisis. With the Iraqi Foreign Minister calling on the international community to secure “sustainable” funding to tackle the pandemic in countries hosting large numbers of IDPs and refugees, it seems the government has finally woken up to the gravity of the situation at hand. However, there is still much to be done, crucially beginning by setting up a solid public health infrastructure. Adequate WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) facilities and hygiene supplies should be provided to these populations, and exclusive women health volunteers should be engaged to cater to young girls and menstrual women. The Iraqi government must abide by its international obligations and offer meaningful protection to the rights of the Yazidis to ensure their survival and safeguard their livelihoods, particularly in this time of crisis. They must protect these rights by ensuring that everyone within their jurisdiction has access to a comprehensive system of healthcare, education and social well-being, which is accessible to everyone without discrimination and economic barriers. These are only initial suggestions and not an exhaustive list that may serve as starting points to strive towards improving the current exigent situation.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought forward an era-defining challenge to public health, particularly in conflict-torn regions. In particular, it has disrupted humanitarian aid flows, limited peace operations, and postponed conflict parties from nascent as well as ongoing efforts at diplomacy, all leading to grave humanitarian and human rights crises. Iraq’s weak public health system, fragile political order, and collapsing economy aggravates its social instability and risks creating a potential security vacuum which heightens the risk of further ISIS attacks and sows the seed for future atrocities. It is time the international community come together to prevent the further persecution of a vulnerable community, no different from oneself, who have been historically diminished and chased from their homes only to find refuge in dire conditions.

Ssanjnna Gupta is a third-year law student at Hidayatullah National Law University, India. Her interests include human rights, refugee law and constitutional law.  

Viraj Aditya is a third-year law student at Hidayatullah National Law University, India. His interests include international law, constitutional law and public policy.