Shafaq News- Erbil

More than 75% of residents of Iraq’s Sinjar district remain displaced 11 years after its recapture from ISIS, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) official Dindar Zebari told Shafaq News on Friday.

Zebari, the KRG’s coordinator for international advocacy, blamed the continuing displacement on the failure to implement the October 2020 Sinjar Agreement between Baghdad and Erbil, insecurity, inadequate basic services and limited reconstruction. He called for stronger coordination between both governments, supported by the United Nations and international partners, to create conditions for voluntary, safe and dignified returns.

ISIS’s August 2014 attack displaced more than 400,000 people from Sinjar in Nineveh province, he said. He cited 2026 figures showing that the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) hosts 325,197 displaced Yazidis, including 135,860 in camps and 189,337 in cities and other areas.

Speaking on the anniversary of Sinjar’s recapture on November 13, 2015, Zebari described the operation under Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani’s supervision as a historic milestone against ISIS. More than 7,000 Peshmerga participated, he added, with more than 500 fighters dying in battles for Sinjar.

The anniversary follows Baghdad’s move last month to integrate the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) into federal security institutions. According to group representative Haji Terash, more than 4,000 men and women had joined federal forces. The KRG Interior Ministry said on October 27 that Baghdad had reached arrangements without consulting it and renewed its demand for implementation of the Sinjar Agreement.

Victims and Accountability

Zebari said ISIS killed more than 5,000 Yazidis and abducted 6,417 others, including 3,548 male and 2,869 female victims. Authorities had rescued 3,595 abductees, while 2,526 remained unaccounted for, including 1,311 male and 1,215 female victims.

The KRG had documented 93 mass and individual graves in Sinjar and surrounding areas, he said. The remains of 296 victims had been exhumed, identified through DNA testing and returned to their families. He also cited the opening of 37 mass graves with support from the UN investigative team known as UNITAD and the return of 186 victims’ remains, figures the team published in August 2024.

More than 57 gigabytes of evidence, documents and legal assessments had been transferred to KRI authorities through cooperation with UNITAD, Zebari stated. More than 3,000 cases concerning ISIS crimes had been registered and processed through the legal system since 2014.

He credited UNITAD with producing 19 assessments and analytical and investigative reports concerning acts that could constitute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The team had also gathered evidence supporting those classifications for crimes against Yazidis.

UNITAD, which ended operations on September 17, 2024, digitized and archived 20 million ISIS-related paper records and supported around 300 requests for judicial and investigative assistance from 21 countries. At least 18 cases it supported abroad reached the indictment stage, and at least 15 resulted in convictions, according to Zebari.

Support for Survivors

A psychological support and treatment center in Duhok had assisted more than 1,000 survivors, while more than 1,000 female survivors had been sent to Germany for psychological treatment, Zebari noted.

A KRG financial assistance program that began in August 2024 at Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s initiative, he added, had supported more than 3,550 survivors, providing approximately $100 a month.

Read more: The long shadow of Sinjar: Twelve years after the ISIS genocide