Nearly 2,820 Yazidis remain missing a decade after ISIS Sinjar attack

BAGHDAD, Iraq — More than 2,820 Yazidis kidnapped during the August 2014 ISIS assault on Iraq’s northwestern Sinjar district remain unaccounted for, according to figures cited in reporting on the genocide’s 11th anniversary. Of the 6,417 people abducted in the attack, 3,597 have been rescued, while 97 mass graves have so far been identified across the area. Local authorities and survivors estimate that roughly 50,000 Yazidi families remain displaced in camps, with many reluctant to return because of security concerns, disputed land records and widespread destruction. Officials say 80% of the region’s infrastructure and 70% of civilian housing was damaged or destroyed during the assault. Iraq’s parliament approved the Yazidi Women Survivors Law in March 2021, formally recognizing the massacre as a genocide against the Yazidi community, though survivors’ groups say implementation has lagged. Community representatives are calling for the equitable distribution of reconstruction funds, the withdrawal of armed groups from Sinjar and the prosecution of those responsible in international courts. The renewed focus on the missing comes amid ongoing searches at documented mass grave sites, though no further details on recovery operations were immediately available.