Iraq’s Yazidis reject resettlement plan into Kurdistan Region

Shafaq News – Duhok

Dozens of displaced Yazidis demonstrated on Monday inside the Jam Mashko camp in Zakho, northern Iraq, rejecting a government plan to settle them in the Kurdistan Region instead of returning to their original towns.

Shafaq News correspondent reported that protesters carried banners opposing the decision, stressing that their displacement had stretched for more than 11 years without steps to restore them to their communities.

Urging international authorities to intervene, support their return, and assist in rebuilding their homes, the demonstrators also demanded compensation for damages, citing families who had come back from al-Hol camp and received 10 million Iraqi dinars.

ISIS invaded Sinjar, home to a Yazidi majority, on August 3, 2014, killing and abducting more than 5,000 people. The fate of over 2,600 Yazidi women and children remains unknown, and around 80 mass graves are yet to be opened.

Today, roughly 200,000 Yazidis remain displaced, many living in camps, while others have returned to areas that lack basic services.