Support Survivors of "Islamic State" Terrorism Erbil/Duhok (Kurdistan-‐Iraq), 10 December 2014 On the occasion of Human Rights Day, the Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights urges the international community to increase its support for traumatized victims of atrocities committed by the self-‐proclaimed Islamic State. Millions of people in Iraq and Syria live under a reign of tyranny imposed by the so-‐called Islamic State (IS). Those who oppose its ideology of hate face torture and execution. Ethnic and religious minorities are threatened with extinction while the world witnesses the obliteration of the ancient spiritual and cultural heritage of Mesopotamia. The Plight of Yazidi Women From the start, IS has used a policy of gender-‐based and sexual violence, imposing its agenda on women’s bodies and making them the battlefield of their holy war. After capturing the town of Sinjar, IS terrorists sexually enslaved an estimated 5,000 Yazidi women and girls. They have been abducted, raped, held captive in brothels, and sold in markets in Mosul and Raqqa, Syria. Some of them were able to escape and fled to the safe Kurdish Region of Iraq. “Yet these women and girls are deeply traumatized, suicidal or physically impaired”, says Salah Ahmad, founder and president of the Jiyan Foundation. “Given the traditional codes of honor in Iraq, they will be rejected both by their families and society”, he further explains. In addition to their traumatic experiences, female survivors of gender-‐based violence have thus lost their future. Victims of gross human rights violations have a right to compensation and rehabilitation. The Jiyan Foundation is one of the few charitable organizations in the world offering direct medical, psychotherapeutic and social services to victims of IS atrocities. Hundreds of women and girls, including a large number of unreported cases, are in urgent need of such treatment. We call upon the international community to provide long-‐term support to traumatized survivors of torture and terror, and to strengthen local communities in their resistance against extremism. Seeking Justice and Fighting Impunity We urge the United Nations — in particular the UN Human Rights Council — to investigate war crimes committed by the IS promptly and thoroughly, and we expect all UN member states to support international mechanisms to identify, apprehend and prosecute the instigators and perpetrators of these crimes. We remind the European Commission of its decision, announced earlier this year, to combat radicalization and extremist ideologies, and we urge the European Council and European Parliament to turn this strategy into reality by assisting victims of terrorism and supporting civil society organizations that counter violent extremism.
About The Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights, founded in 2005, is a non-‐profit organization based in Iraq. The mission of our organization is to support, treat and rehabilitate survivors of severe human rights violations, including those that have experienced torture, genocide, political persecution, domestic and gender-‐based violence, and terrorist attacks. Contact Salah Ahmad President • Director-‐General +964 (0)770 1222999 s.ahmad@jiyan-‐foundation.org www.jiyan-‐foundation.org Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 4 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude. Article 5 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.