In August 2014, fighters of the so-called Islamic State (IS) attacked Yazidi villages and towns in northern Iraq. Civilians suffered horrendous massacres at their hands; people were enslaved, kidnapped and raped. Millions of Yazidis fled the reign of terror of the so-called Islamic State and had to leave their home.

Today we remember the genocide of the Yazidis. We call to mind those who were murdered and the immeasurable suffering of the survivors and the families of the deceased. To this day, there are 1.03 million internally displaced persons living in Iraq, many of them belong to the Yazidi community. To this day, many wounds remain unhealed. The traumatic experiences of the survivors continue to cause pain. The fight for justice continues. Today’s anniversary reminds us that freedom of religion is not an abstract principle but one of existential import.

Even now, eleven years after the horrific crimes, the fate of more than 2600 kidnapped Yazidi women and girls remains unclear. Many of the thousands of people who fled the atrocities perpetrated by the so-called Islamic State continue to live in refugee camps enduring harsh conditions. The level of destruction in the native regions of the Yazidi community remains high; families often lack hope for the future.

It was an important signal for the Yazidi community when the Bundestag recognised the horrendous fate of the Yazidis as genocide in 2023. The Federal Public Prosecutor General is playing a pioneering role also at international level when it comes to procedures for prosecuting crimes under international criminal law committed by the so-called Islamic State against Yazidis.

For many years, Germany has been supporting projects and organisations working on stabilisation, reconstruction and the investigation of crimes committed by the so-called Islamic State. This includes providing therapy and training trauma therapists, looking for missing persons, preserving evidence, exhuming mass graves, repairing housing, water and wastewater systems, as well as schools, in the native regions of the Yazidi community.

For Yazidis to again have a future in their native regions and in the communities where they are currently residing, courageous people are needed, as well as joint and decisive commitment on the part of the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government, but also a contribution by the Yazidi community itself.

The Federal Government continues to support the Yazidi community in Iraq so that their living conditions can be improved and their rights upheld.