President Sheikh Mohamed says Yazidi genocide anniversary shows value of peace

Thursday marks ninth anniversary of the day ISIS began atrocities targeting Yazidi community

Sheikh Mohamed said the anniversary was a reminder of the importance of rejecting discrimination. Photo: Presidential Court

President Sheikh Mohamed has said the anniversary of ISIS attacking and killing hundreds of members of the Yazidi community serves as a reminder of the importance of promoting peace.

"The 9th anniversary of the crimes committed by the Daesh terrorist group against the Yazidis and others in Iraq is a painful reminder of the importance of embracing peaceful coexistence and rejecting all forms of discrimination based on religion or sect or ethnicity," Sheikh Mohamed said, writing on social media.

Nine years ago on Thursday, ISIS – also known as Daesh – seized large parts of Iraq and Syria, leading to the deaths of 1,200 Yazidis and the enslavement of nearly 12,000 women and girls.

A large portion of the Yazidi minority in Iraq, about 550,000, were forced to abandon their homes, predominantly in the Sinjar area.

Women were taken into captivity in Iraq and Syria, where the extremists subjected them to torture, rape and forced labour.

After extensive investigations, a UN team concluded there was “clear and convincing evidence that genocide was committed”.

On Tuesday, the UK government formally declared the ISIS atrocities committed against the Yazidi people were acts of genocide.

The decision marks the fifth time Britain has acknowledged the occurrence of genocidal acts, after the Holocaust, Rwanda, Srebrenica and Cambodia.

The official acknowledgement came after a landmark ruling in June by a German court, which convicted a woman of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to nine years in prison for keeping a Yazidi woman as a slave.

The woman, known as Nadine K, was also found guilty of being a member of a foreign terrorist organisation and aiding and abetting genocide.

Yazidis, who are ethnically Kurdish, follow a religion derived from elements of Zoroastrianism – an ancient Persian faith – Christianity, Islam and Judaism.