Peace in Kurdistan Campaign sent a letter to Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and to Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs regarding the need to protect Shengal and the Yazidi people.

The letter reminded of the agreement between the Iraqi Federal Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government made on 9 October 2020 to take control of security and administration of the region of Shengal (Sinjar) and added: “This agreement was reached without consulting the local Yazidi inhabitants of Shengal. The Yazidi’s representatives have made it known that they are opposed to the agreement and fear that it will result in their forced removal from the territory and their genocidal murder.”

The letter also reminded that in August 2014, the Yazidis were subjected to a genocidal attack by Islamic State gangs after Iraqi government forces and Kurdistan Regional Government peshmerga fled before their advance, leaving the population defenceless. “Some 5,000 lives were taken and over 10,000 people were abducted, mainly women and children, who were sold as slaves upon capture,” said Peace in Kuridstan adding: “Half a million people were driven into refugee camps. Following the removal of the Islamic State, the local population have formed self-defence units to protect themselves and to prevent a repetition of the massacre. The Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government now demand the dissolution of the Shengal Resistance Units, when it was their very forces that left the Yazidis to be massacred.”

During the last week of November, the Iraqi Federal Government has deployed approximately 8,000 troops to the Shengal area and sent over 2,000 armed police into the most inhabited urban neighbourhoods, recalled Peace in Kurdistan adding: “The local population is anxious that they have been put under siege and that an armed attack on them is imminent. They view the 9 October agreement as conforming with the Turkish state’s objective to remove the Yazidi population, in order to establish a Turkey-controlled buffer zone inside Iraq and Syria, from the border of Iran to the border of Lebanon.”

Peace in Kurdistan continued: “We ask the Secretary of State whether Her Majesty’s Government will condemn the 9 October agreement between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to take over the security and administration of Shengal (Sinjar) without the agreement of the local population and their representatives?

Will Her Majesty’s Government make its concerns known to the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Turkish government and speak out for the protection of the Yazidi people and their right to self-defence? Another slaughter of the Yazidi people may be imminent – it must be prevented.”