The world has let down Yazidis who fled Isis genocide

In the summer of 2014 the world’s TV audiences were stunned by pictures of Yazidi families being rescued from Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq. We saw coalition air forces dropping food and the Kurdish PKK saving families after they had been mercilessly attacked by Isis and were fleeing for their lives across the mountains. The men were escaping execution; the women, rape and sexual slavery.

The heroics continued as camps were quickly built to accommodate the Yazidi escapees. In capital cities around the world and at the United Nations, good men and women made inspiring statements about standing with the Yazidi people and protecting them from genocide. Four and a half years later, a trip to these same camps in Iraq proves a disturbing lesson in the short shelf life of the international effort.

Still full of up to 200,000 displaced Yazidis, the camps feature empty compounds where the non-governmental organisations that once provided a range of services have abandoned their projects, as the UN funding on which they relied dries up and is redirected to the latest crisis to hit TV screens.

In one such camp I met a family forced to survive on $15 a month per person — close to a starvation diet. This family, and many others, were desperate to find out whether the centre run by War Child, the last children’s service left in the camp, would stay. They told me that through attending its sessions their children, who arrived at the camp traumatised and afraid, are now much more able to cope with the memories of the horrors they fled and can look towards the future. In fact, War Child’s funding has run out too but it has refused to leave, digging into private funding to make sure its centres stay open.

It is clear to the Yazidi families that the world has lost interest. Many people I spoke to had seen their homes destroyed by Isis, others said they simply didn’t feel safe to return. We learnt that no one had been offered any assistance to rebuild their home. The aid system is failing to find the funds needed for rebuilding, while at the same time pulling funding from the camps they are stuck in. It’s no surprise that families I met shared their concern about suicide rates. There have been 18 such deaths and a further 22 attempted suicides across all the displaced communities in northern Iraq.

The situation is desperate. Donors must renew their commitment to this beleaguered community and provide funding that focuses on rehabilitation and reconstruction. The rest of the world must prove its commitment to protecting vulnerable populations from the terror of radical groups.

Carey Mulligan

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