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Dear friends,
Happy New Year! Please read below for January news and updates.
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PROMINENT IRAQI JUDGE VISITS FYF CENTER
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Prominent Iraqi Judge Qasim Al-Aboudi visited the Yezidi community at FYF's Enterprise & Training Center, accompanied by other officials and UN (UNITAD) team members. FYF Country Director Hewan Omer and other staff members spoke in detail with the delegation about a number of matters, including the value of Yezidi-led business, enterprise, education, and training to improve the future of the community in the next generation.
In addition, the judge and the delegation also discussed Yezidi recovery and the difficult topic of children born to Yezidi women from rape. The judge expressed his sympathy to the Yezidi community and solidarity. FYF expressed its gratitude to all those officials who understand the complex matters facing individual survivors and the surviving community as a whole, and supported continued dialogue with judicial officials to guarantee rights of all those affected by the ISIS atrocities. FYF also thanked UNITAD for its continued engagement and support.
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OPEN LETTER TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE ON FOREIGN ISIS MEMBERS
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This month FYF spearheaded a campaign to inform Council of Europe parliamentarians in advance of 23 January debate on the situation of European ISIS members. Yezidi and other religious and ethnic minority community call for justice and accountability to remain a primary consideration in the European approach to its nationals who joined ISIS. The full text of the letter, co-issued by dozens of organizations and individuals, is available here.
An excerpt: "Perpetrators of genocide returning to Europe with their families, while escaping accountability for their crimes, is a travesty of justice – especially as the surviving communities struggle to rebuild their homeland and remain in camps or makeshift shelters. Affected communities in Iraq and Syria, including Yazidi, Christian, and other religious and ethnic minority components, rely on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe members to act in solidarity and support of the victimized populations – not the perpetrators – and ensure Daesh members do not escape justice."
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GERMANY FORMALLY RECOGNIZES THE YEZIDI GENOCIDE
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Photo by Rodi Said / Reuters
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Germany formally recognized the Yezidi Genocide on 19 January 2023. This decision was warmly appreciated by the Yezidi community.
FYF stated, "Genocide recognition by countries around the world is important to Yezidis because it helps us to establish an incontrovertible record of the crimes that were perpetrated against our community. In 2014, ISIS intentionally acted to eradicate the Yezidi people...Germany has also been the unquestioned global leader at mobilizing universal jurisdiction in the indictment and trial of individual ISIS members for their atrocity crimes against Yezidi, taking these crimes seriously and treating them beyond the terrorism lens."
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DUTCH THEATER HIGHLIGHTS YEZIDI GENOCIDE
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Original Yezidi artisanal pieces serve as backdrop. Photo on left by Sarah Nixon, on right by Ben Van Duin
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FYF assisted the Dutch theater troupe, Toneelgroep Maastricht, in their efforts to perform a play, entitled Schuld, about the Yezidi Genocide. The team traveled to our center in Khanke to purchase custom-ordered rugs and carpets, produced by Yezidi women, for the set, which recently finished running. Sarah Nixon, of the production team, conveyed the following to the FYF team:
“I wish you and your amazing, talented artist weavers could have seen the result and could have heard the reactions from the audience. We had so many people who were moved and also shocked by this story. And to learn more about the story of the Yezidi people. I am grateful that the audience could see on stage something that actually came from Iraqi Kurdistan and was made by Yezidi hands. We received many, many compliments on the amazing carpets.”
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Since we announced the FYF initiative to provide birthday parties for less fortunate displaced Yezidi children, we have raised enough funds to host 39 parties! Here are some recent birthday photos from the Sugar is Sweet cafe. If you would like to participate, click here.
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Thank you all, as always, for your steadfast support of FYF and the Yezidi community.
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Sincerely,
Pari Ibrahim
Executive Director
Free Yezidi Foundation
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IN THE NEWS
Independent Catholic News | Turkey: Calling Erdogan's Bluff | FYF board member Rebecca Tinsley authored this piece, which also quotes FYF on the location of missing Yezidis.
Kurdistan24 | German Parliament Formally Recognizes Genocide against Yezidis | This article quotes the FYF reaction to Germany's genocide recognition.
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