The Dutch House of Representatives recognized the crimes of the Islamic State against the Yazidi community as genocide and crimes against humanity. A majority in parliament voted in favour of CDA MP Anne Kuik's motion.

The European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the US House of Representatives have already described the atrocities that ISIS has committed against Yazidis and Christians since 2014 as genocide. The Dutch House of Representatives sent out a similar signal and increased international pressure.

Along with the recognition of the genocide, four more resolutions were passed. Yazidi voices should be heard in trials against ISIS members in the Netherlands, and genocide victims will be granted the right to compensation. The Dutch parliament wants to work to ensure that ISIS members are brought to justice where they have committed their crimes. Yazidi women and children who were affected by ISIS barbarism should be supported. The Dutch government should also help to rebuild Shengal.

The genocide has not yet been recognized by the United Nations Security Council or by an international court. During a parliamentary debate on ISIS last week, Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag said that the Netherlands were working towards it.

In May, a United Nations investigation team concluded that the crimes committed by ISIS against ethnic and religious minorities, including the Yazidis, constitute genocide. The CDA's motion was inspired by the Belgian federal parliament, which, last week, recognized the crimes against the Yazidi as genocide.

Background

The last genocide of the Yazidis began on 3 August 2014 with the ISIS attack on the main Yazidi settlement area of Shengal in South Kurdistan. Those who were able to save themselves on the hot summer's day fled to the mountains. Countless children and elderly people died of thirst on the way there. Men who couldn't make it away were brutally murdered. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were kidnapped and sold, abused and raped in ISIS slave markets. Kidnapped boys were trained to be suicide bombers. According to recent estimates, at least 10,000 people were killed and over 400,000 were driven from their homes. Around 2,500 Yazidi women, men and children are missing to this day.