9th ANNIVERSARY OF THE GENOCIDE AGAINST THE YAZIDIS: OUR DEMANDS IN THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG

With the official recognition of the genocide against the Yazidis, the Federal Republic of Germany has sent a strong political signal. For us as a human rights organization founded on the ashes of the Yazidi genocide, this recognition comes with a series of demands that we presented in the Bundestag alongside genocide survivors, the organization Farida Global, and Member of Parliament Max Lucks (BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN):

1. HÁWAR.help calls for meaningful remembrance and commemoration of the genocide. Spaces for dialogue, exchange, reflection, and remembrance must be established in both Germany – which is now home to the world’s largest Yazidi diaspora – and in Iraq.

2. Germany has taken a leading role in the legal prosecution of the genocide and should maintain this role by continuing to pursue IS perpetrators and support legal proceedings abroad. Survivors must be included more strongly – for example, by ensuring court proceedings are translated into Kurdish and Arabic so that they can follow and experience justice being served.

3. The Federal Prosecutor General should examine how Germany can support the upcoming IS trials in northeastern Syria, particularly regarding the approximately 3,000 “foreign fighters” and their family members (including German nationals) who remain in Syrian prisons and camps and have yet to be repatriated.

4. Germany should call on the Iraqi government to ensure the pragmatic implementation of the Yazidi Survivors Law – a law that grants compensation to Yazidis and other minorities persecuted by ISIS. Moreover, Iraq must ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to establish a binding legal basis for jurisdiction.

5. Germany must advocate for the reconstruction of Sinjar and the stabilization of the region at the international level, including diplomatic pressure on Iraq to implement the Sinjar Agreement.

6. Psychosocial support for Yazidi survivors of the genocide must be expanded – both in Germany and in Iraq.

7. Due to ongoing persecution and discrimination, Yazidis must be granted a special protection status. This includes both comprehensive protection in asylum procedures through a halt on deportations, and the establishment of an admission program under a federal humanitarian quota for Yazidis still suffering from the long-term effects of the genocide.