In August 2014, ISIS flooded out of their bases in Syria and Iraq, and swept across Sinjar in northern Iraq, home to the majority of the world’s Yazidis. Within days, reports emerged of ISIS committing atrocities against the Yazidi community. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria independently determined that ISIS was committing genocide against the Yazidis, and would refer to the highly gendered nature the genocide’s commission and impact.

This panel discussion reflects on the current situation of the Yazidis of Sinjar, the factual and legal findings of the Commission of Inquiry’s report, and what remains to be done to achieve justice and security for the Yazidis and other Iraqi minorities following ISIS, as a pseudo-state, being dismantled in northern Iraq.

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Speakers: Roza Saeed Al-Qaidi, Yazidi activist; Bahaa Ilyas, Yazidi activist; Sareta Ashraph, LSE Middle East Centre
Chair: Zeynep Kaya, LSE Middle East Centre

Roza Saeed Al-Qaidi is a Yazidi activist. Since ISIS' attacks on the Yazidis in August 2014, she has been involved in humanitarian aid and has interviewed Yazidi survivors, particularly women and girls who had been sexually enslaved by ISIS fighters, on behalf of a number of different organisations.

Bahaa Ilyas is a Yazidi activist who has been in close contact with internally displaced people through different agencies and organisations since 2014. Currently, he is a researcher on the LSE Middle East Centre's 'Documenting Yazidi Victims of ISIS' project.

Sareta Ashraph (@SaretaAshraph) is former Chief Legal Analyst at the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, and Principal Investigator on the LSE Middle East Centre's 'Documenting Yazidi Victims of ISIS' project.

Zeynep Kaya is Research Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She is also Lecturer at the Pembroke-King's Programme, University of Cambridge. Her current research interests focus on displacement, gender, conflict and the implementation of the WPS agenda in Iraq.