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Dear friends,
Please find below FYF news and the latest developments in the Yezidi community for the month of October.
On 25 October, Jennifer Wenisch was convicted in Germany for her role in the death of a five-year-old Yezidi girl. FYF applauded the German court for this judgment while underscoring the horrific nature of crimes committed against the Yezidi people by ISIS members such as Jennifer Wenisch.
"Like many other women who joined ISIS, Wenisch, who travelled to Iraq in 2014, was not merely an 'ISIS bride,' but played an active role in the enslavement and genocide of the Yezidi people. Along with her husband, Wenisch took a Yezidi woman and her daughter as slaves in Mosul. They later chained the five-year-old child outside, where she died of thirst in the summer heat. It should be noted that the crimes committed by Wenisch and her husband were revealed in Europe when she explained to an FBI informant, who was posing as an ISIS supporter, what she had done. Yezidi women have often said that female ISIS members were among the most brutal."
FYF's full statement can be found here.
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Jennifer W in court on 25 October 2021 (photo: Getty Images)
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FYF has been operating the Bakery Training Center since the early part of this year. Every few months, Yezidi women graduate with new skills - not only in baking but also basic mathematics and business training. The bakery is now functioning, and the women have worked hard to establish a spectacular cafe for the host and IDP community to enjoy. Congratulations to our October graduates!
We look forward to expanding bakery and cafe operations in the coming months, and we are thankful to Hungary Helps and Hungarian Interchurch Aid for supporting this innovative project.
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This month, 62 young people in Khanke graduated from FYF's program, supported by Grand Challenges Canada, designed to provide them with a range of important life skills. Participants benefitted from English language classes, IT, human rights classes and support with writing resumes. Yezidi women also led sessions for the group on social and mental health issues, an important area of concern this year. Congratulations to our graduates, and thank you to the Government of Canada for supporting this important project.
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FYF is scaling up pressure on the international community to mount a serious campaign to identify and rescue the nearly three thousand Yezidi women and children were are still missing. Partly as a result of our efforts, the United States Department of State spearheaded a statement signed by 17 other countries underscoring the necessity to identify the missing. The statement can be found here. One ally in our effort, Fiona Bruce, Member of the UK Parliament, posed a public question to the UK Foreign Secretary, which can be found here. |
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This month FYF-USA board member Alex Lourie visited the Enterprise & Training Center in Khanke to meet with beneficiaries and staff, purchase some craft items, and support the team. He was also present in Baghdad, on behalf of FYF, to accept a donation from the European Union Assistance Mission to Iraq to the FYF Enterprise & Training Center (pictured below).
Separately, FYF-USA board member Nibras Basitkey appeared on the Today Show, a prominent television show in the United States. Nibras spoke about women's rights and women's education (pictured below). Great job board members!
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EUAM-Iraq presents check to FYF (photo: EUAM-Iraq); Nibras on the Today Show (photo: Today Show)
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Thank you all, as always, for your steadfast support of the Yezidi community.
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Sincerely,
Pari Ibrahim
Executive Director
Free Yezidi Foundation
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In the News
Forbes | The Missing Yazidi Women and Children Must Be Located and Rescued | This article discusses the effort, co-led by FYF, to mount a serious campaign to rescue missing Yezidis.
Forbes | How Activists, Including Nobel Winner Nadia Murad, Are Advocating For Missing Women And Children | FYF's advocacy for missing women and children is mentioned in this article.
The New Statesman | Massacred by Islamic State, Yazidis Now Face Turkish Airstrikes | Turkey has repeatedly bombed Sinjar in the past year. FYF is quoted expressing the impact this has on the Yezidi community.
US Institute of Peace | Why Is There No Global Effort To Find The Missing Yezidis? | |n this article, Knox Thames, former State Department advisor for religious minorities in the Near East and South and Central Asia, argues the international community needs to do more to find missing Yezidis.
Kurdistan24 | Yezidis Welcome Statement Of 'Great Concern' By 18 Nations On Missing Captives | FYF is quoted in this article, published following a joint statement from 18 countries on missing Yezidi women and children.
Kurdistan24 | German ISIS Wife Sentenced to 10 Years in Jail | FYF is quoted in this Kurdistan24 piece on the Jennifer Wenisch case in Munich.
Rudaw | Yazidi Organisations Welcome German Court Sentence of ISIS Woman to 10 Years | FYF was also featured in Rudaw's article on the Wenisch case.
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