International Women's Day: The Yazidis’ global quest for justice

March 8 is International Women’s Day and, after February (Black History month), the month of March is dedicated to the celebration of women’s contributions. I am reminded of the words from the South African Freedom Struggle “Now you have touched the women you have struck a rock: you have dislodged a boulder.” These words acknowledge how women form a backbone of communities and their violation during war, including the use of rape as a weapon, is a crime under international law.

As wars escalate around the world, it is worth reflecting on the enduring impact of the Yazidi genocide, over a decade ago.

— Mary T. Bassett, MD, MPH
Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights

By Serhat Yildirim (FXB Center), Eva Sevrin (Harvard Law School), Justine Haekens (Harvard Law School)

On this year’s International Women’s Day, we remember the 74th genocide committed against the Yazidi community in northern Iraq by the Islamic State (ISIS) over a decade ago. Women and children were abducted, sexually abused, and forced into slavery. A Yazidi survivor once told me, “They took our dignity, destroyed our community, and still, there is no justice.” 

On August 3, 2014, ISIS terrorists attacked the ethnic and religious minority community in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq. 400,000 Yazidis fled. More than 5,000, mainly men, were executed. Over 7,000 Yazidis were kidnapped, sexually abused, and sold into slavery. Some escaped or were freed and ended up in displacement camps in Iraqi Kurdistan, still traumatized by their captivity. Others remain missing, living as sexually enslaved people or in detention camps like Al-Hol in northeastern Syria alongside ISIS fighters. 

The road toward accountability has been steep. Scholars have documented the enduring psychological suffering of victims without adequate mental health and psychosocial support, reintegration, and rehabilitation. Both victims and perpetrators might no longer be present on Iraqi or Syrian soil but have sought asylum around the world. The need for redress for victims and accountability for perpetrators is urgent. 

The legal framework is supposed to offer support in this effort. Specifically, International Humanitarian Law (IHL) primarily aims to protect civilians and limit the destructive effects of conflict. Meanwhile, sexual abuse continues to be widely used as a weapon of war. Yet, the legal framework supposed to offer some relief seems lacking. 

Sexual violence during conflict has long been seen as ‘unavoidable’ and seemed tacitly accepted. For example, the Nuremberg trials disregarded compelling rape-related evidence. At the same time, the Tokyo Trials overlooked the issues related to the “comfort women” system, and other rape victims were not invited to share their stories.

It was only in  the ‘90s that international law developed actual teeth to address sexual violence. Horrifying reports of rape camps in Yugoslavia led to the landmark Tadić case in 1995: “Rape, when committed in the context of armed conflict, is a violation of the laws and customs of war.” When sexual violence is part of a widespread or systemic attack directed against a civilian population, it can even amount to a crime against humanity. As such, the case provides the groundwork to understand sexual violence as prohibited under the Geneva Conventions – the cornerstone treaty of IHL. Subsequent tribunals, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), build onto this.

In any case, prosecuting perpetrators for these crimes proves to be complicated even when courts have jurisdiction. High standards of evidence, specifically strict requirements and narrow definitions, have led to a prosecution gap. Neither Iraq nor Syria has ratified the Rome Statute, which recognizes rape as a war crime and as a crime against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians. It also recognizes rape as an act of genocide when committed with the intent to destroy a group. In 1998, an individual was for the first time convicted of rape as a crime against humanity in the context of the Rwandan genocide, but such prosecutions remain rare. Due to the lack of ratification of the Rome Statute by Iraq and Syria, the ICC is also not directly accessible to victims. However, both countries remain bound by the Geneva Conventions and general international humanitarian law.

Human rights lawyers and victims also look at domestic courts outside northern Iraq and Syria. The first judgment convicting the enslaver of a Yazidi woman and her five-year-old daughter came from a German court. National courts, such as the German courts, can (or even have to) prosecute individuals for crimes against humanity under the “universal jurisdiction” system. 

While both politically and legally quite controversial, universal jurisdiction is often seen as a vital avenue for victims seeking justice. Especially in cases where the domestic authorities might not prosecute the perpetrators, for example, in the case of ongoing conflict or lack of appropriate infrastructure, the law beyond domestic borders might be the only law available. 

Moreover, countries should apply and enforce their criminal legislation effectively. Many ISIS perpetrators are nationals from third states. Countries such as Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands have prosecuted and convicted their nationals for the enslavement, trade, and sexual abuse of Yazidi women. Likewise, the Iraqi and Syrian legal systems should continue to evolve to address the lack of accountability and redress for victims. The Iraqi government’s restrictive approach to the Yazidi Survivors Law hampers its effectiveness significantly. 

More than a decade after the attack, between 2,800 and 3,000 Yazidis remain missing, of which 1,300 are children. Unfortunately, with few exceptions within the Yazidi community, efforts to locate these missing women and children are lacking. 

The survivors of the genocide are seeking justice from all corners of the globe. Both international and national courts must utilize all available tools to respond to these calls. ISIS took the Yazidis’ dignity and shattered their community, yet justice must ultimately prevail.

Additional Readings

1. Amnesty International, July 31, 2024: Syria: Yezidi survivors of Islamic State atrocities abandoned to indefinite detention in north-east Syria: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/07/syria-yezidi-survivors-of-islamic-state-atrocities-abandoned-to-indefinite-detention-in-north-east-syria/
2. United Nations, March 2012, Background Note: Sexual Violence: a Tool of War: https://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/pdf/bgsexualviolence.pdf 

[The above represents solely the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the institution.]