Ten years after the genocide against the Yazidis, the Persecution Prevention Project (PPP) releases a critical report, Pathways to Protection, highlighting the ongoing persecution and grave threats faced by the Yazidi community in Iraq. This report, an update to the PPP’s 2019 briefing, “Before It’s Too Late”, substantiates the previously identified risks faced by the community and highlights the crucial role of European countries in protecting the community through refugee policy.

“Five years later, the PPP is unfortunately compelled to publish this follow-up report, following the 10-year commemoration of the Yazidi genocide, which both substantiates the efficacy of our 2019 risk factor assessment and highlights that the prognosis for future stability and security for Yazidis in Iraq is not positive,” said Marissa Kardon Weber, a co-author of the report. “Today, the Yazidi community continues to endure immense suffering, which is exacerbated by inadequate access to justice, safety, and security within Iraq.”

The report identifies several ongoing threats:

• Lingering ISIS Threat: ISIS maintains a presence in the region, employs increasingly sophisticated technologies to spread propaganda and incite violence, and actively targets vulnerable populations, particularly children in IDP camps.
• The role of other actors that had enabled the genocide: The report presents evidence of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) failure to protect the Yazidi against the genocide in 2014, and subsequent actions hindering the Yazidi’s return to Sinjar.
• Humanitarian Crisis: Sinjar’s infrastructure remains largely destroyed, with inadequate access to healthcare, education, and essential services.
• Militias and Airstrikes: Sinjar faces a proliferation of militias, coupled with Turkish airstrikes targeting Yazidi areas, including civilian hospitals.
• Hate Speech and Incitement: Inflammatory rhetoric from religious leaders and social media campaigns continue to incite violence against the community.
• Lack of Self-Governance: Yazidis continue to lack meaningful political representation, hindering their ability to influence decisions about their future and the reconstruction of Sinjar.
• Obstacles to Justice and Accountability: The Iraqi justice system lacks the capacity to effectively investigate and prosecute international crimes, relying on inadequate anti-terrorism legislation. Limited domestic remedies, coupled with ongoing enforced disappearances and systemic impunity, compound the denial of justice for Yazidis. The end of UNITAD’s mandate further jeopardizes accountability efforts.

The report highlights universal jurisdiction cases in European courts, supported by UNITAD, as a crucial avenue for justice, and calls on European countries to fulfill their international legal obligations to protect the Yazidi community through refugee policy and upholding the principle of non-refoulement. Recent developments in German asylum policy, including deportations to Iraq and reported agreements to share biometric data with Iraqi authorities, contradict these obligations.

“Because of the genocide they suffered and its recognition, Yazidis had the hope that they would be released from their tolerated status and granted the right to stay on humanitarian grounds,“ said Kareba Hageman, a Yazidi lawyer. „They did not expect that just five months later the first federal states would be preparing to deport them to Iraq. The threat of deportation compounds Yazidis’ trauma when they believed that they would finally be safe in Germany.”

The PPP urges immediate action from European and Iraqi authorities and the broader international community to address the ongoing persecution of the Yazidis, abide by their international obligations, and thereby provide pathways to their protection consistent with international law.

The full report, Pathways to Protection, is available here or at https://macmillan.yale.edu/gsp/publications/pathways-protection.