Yazidi survivor releases a book documenting her ordeal under ISIS

Shafaq News/ Yazidi survivor Hiyam Bekr has released an English-language book recounting her harrowing experiences and the injustices she endured during her abduction by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014.

Bekr, who now resides in Australia, told Shafaq News agency that after her liberation, she proposed to fellow Yazidi author Sheilan Khedidaw, also based in Australia, the idea of penning a book about her life and the suffering she endured under ISIS captivity. The result was "The Woman Who Escaped ISIS Hell," which has been met with great reception by both critics and the public in her country of residence.

"The book has been distributed in libraries and has garnered significant interest in different cities across Australia," Bekr explained. "I am currently working on translating the book into multiple languages and distributing it worldwide to raise global awareness of the injustices inflicted upon Yazidi women and the Yazidi community as a whole. I urge the international community to pay attention to the plight of the Yazidis, especially Yazidi women who suffered immensely during their abduction by the extremist group."

Bekr, a 26-year-old native of Sinjar, was abducted along with her three children during ISIS's 2014 invasion of their region. She was liberated in 2015 with the assistance of the Kurdistan Region Office for Abducted and Kidnapped Persons.

Sinjar is a Yazidi-majority town in Iraq's northern Nineveh governorate that suffered heavily during the ISIS onslaught in 2014, leading to genocide and other systematic abuses against its communities. But with ISIS no longer a major threat, political disorder, and security skirmishes continue to impede the recovery of the war-scarred community.

Sinjar is considered one of fourteen disputed territories claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, which is defined by the rivalry between government and territory control. Additionally, as Sinjar shares borders with Syria's al-Hasakah province to the northwest and Turkey's Silopi province to the northeast, it remains in a regional quandary.

Under the auspices of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed on October 29, 2020, a security and stability agreement for the district of Sinjar, aiming for reconciliation.

In terms of security, the agreement calls for the deportation of all armed groups and the appointment of 2,500 local security forces to Sinjar. However, the call for local police to re-control the area remains vital—absent implementation. The agreement also mentions the withdrawal of the Kurdistan Workers Party from the Sinjar district. The PKK moved to Sinjar with the advantage of a security vacuum in 2014 as the ISIS attacks ensued. Soon after the establishment of the Sinjar Resistance Units, a political wing was founded under the Sinjar Democratic Autonomous Council and Yazidi Freedom and Democracy Party. With the PKK’s integration and the recruitment of Yazidis to the YBS to help with the area’s security, it created further obstacles to the group’s departure.

However, despite the repeated calls from the KRG, the agreement introduced to the public with minimal consultation for the local community remains stalled with little appetite for implantation.