Child survivors of Islamic State (IS) captivity and their families have been left to fend for themselves when dealing with lasting trauma and health complications, Amnesty International said yesterday.
Almost 2,000 Yazidi children living in the Kurdish regional government area have been “effectively abandoned,” said a new report that highlights their struggles to recover from IS-inflicted violence.
Many suffer from fits of anger, flashbacks and nightmares, and have persistent health problems.
Photo: AP
“These children were systematically subjected to the horror of life under IS, and now they’ve been left to pick up the pieces,” Amnesty International crisis response deputy director Matt Wells said. “Their physical and mental health must be a priority in the years ahead if they are to fully reintegrate into their families and community.”
The 400,000 Yazidi minority were targeted in their heartland of the Sinjar Mountains from August 2014 by IS, which captured thousands of prisoners and turned them into slaves.
The report quotes a doctor who said that almost every girl that they have treated between the ages of nine and 17 had been the victim of sexual violence, and now suffers from infection, irregular periods, and difficulties in pregnancy and childbirth.
Photo: AFP
Some female survivors told Amnesty that the babies born as a result of the abuse have been socially ostracized, and that many of them had to abandon their children and have not been allowed any contact since.
Many captured boys were left disabled after being forced to fight alongside IS and have received no support since returning home, the report says.
Angelina Jolie, a special envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, earlier this month quoted Amnesty’s research at the UN Security Council, where she called for more support for Yazidis.
“If we are not able to live up to our promise of a survivor-centered approach for Yazidi children, who make up just one relatively small group of survivors, then how many more children and young adults are suffering in silence at the global level?” the actor said.
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