Kurdistan Region says 3,595 Yazidis rescued since 2014, 2,500 still missing

DUHOK, Iraq — Twelve years after ISIS overran parts of Sinjar, 3,595 Yazidis have been rescued while roughly 2,500 remain missing, the head of the Kurdistan Region's Office for Kidnapped Affairs said on Sunday. Hussein al-Kaidi, who heads the office set up on the instructions of Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, put the total number of Yazidis kidnapped in the 2014 assault at 6,417. Al-Kaidi said the office is still searching for the missing, but that operations have become harder because ISIS-affiliated families frequently relocate, taking captives with them. He added that developments in Syria had not interrupted the work and that new leads continue to be followed up. Survivors are receiving psychological support programs under the Kurdistan Regional Government's supervision in Duhok, with more than 1,000 people having benefited, according to al-Kaidi. He said that in 2015 more than 1,000 survivors were sent to Germany's Baden-Württemberg state for treatment under a coordination arrangement, and that the office continues to help survivors in and outside the camps with shelter, livelihood support and the preparation of official documents. The Kurdistan Regional Government also provides monthly financial assistance to survivors, which al-Kaidi said has been received positively. August 3 marks 12 years since ISIS seized Yazidi areas of Sinjar, killing or abducting thousands of civilians and displacing hundreds of thousands.