Yazidis slam Iraq’s central government for failing to provide adequate funds to rebuild Sinjar
A group of Yazidi groups issued a harshly worded statement on the eve of the ninth anniversary of the start of the pogroms carried out by the Islamic State group, deemed genocide by the United Nations. More than 200,000 Yazidis continue to languish in camps for displaced people.
Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Some 27 Yazidi organisations have issued a statement, slamming the Iraqi government for failing to provide adequate funds to rebuild Sinjar, their traditional homeland. They also appeal for enhanced financial assistance to their community.
The Yazidis suffered horrible persecution during the short reign of the Islamic State group after it seized their region in 2014. Thousands of Yazidi men were killed while thousands of Yazidi women and children were abducted in what the United Nations and many states have labelled a genocide.
In their statement, published by the Al-Monitor new website, the groups criticise central federal authorities in Baghdad for allocating a mere US$ 38 million for rehabilitation in Sinjar, this out of a budget of US$ 153 billion.
They point out that the Iraqi Prime Minister's Office had initially allocated 500 billion Iraqi dinars (US$ 380 million) for Sinjar, but that, “The budget was filibustered by some political parties and cut down to 10 per cent of its original allocation."
“Sinjar and other areas inhabited mostly by minorities have received disproportionately low funding over the past nine years,” the statement reads. For this reason, “our communities are outraged by the inequality of this budget allocation, considering the severe level of destruction in Sinjar and other areas.”
The statement goes on to urge the government to set aside 1 per cent, or US$ 1.5 billion, in this year’s budget to rebuild the predominantly Yazidi area.
“Our people need serious financial support to recover from the genocide. The tiny budget allocated to our people is barely sufficient to replace doors of destroyed homes, let alone our towns and villages,” lamented Murad Ismael, founder of Sinjar Academy, an advocacy group.
To raise awareness of their situation, the groups that signed the statement plan to hold a conference in Baghdad on 1 August, the ninth anniversary of the start of the anti-Yazidi pogroms.
According to the International Organisation for Migration, a United Nations agency, 80 per cent of the infrastructure and 70 per cent of the homes in Sinjar – the largest town in the Sinjar region – were destroyed during the conflict that raged in Iraq from 2014 to 2017.
At present, more than 200,000 Yazidis continue to languish in poorly equipped camps for displaced people in Dahuk province, Iraqi Kurdistan, many of them living in flammable nylon tents.
As the statement explains, “Meanwhile, Iraq has proved capable of generating impressive revenue and passing its largest annual spending budget in history.”
Photo: Flickr/michael_swan
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12/02/2022 17:33
