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.
China’s military yesterday showed off its machine-gun equipped robot battle “dogs” at the start of its biggest ever drills with Cambodian forces. More than 2,000 troops, including 760 Chinese military personnel, are taking part in the drills at a remote training center in central Kampong Chhnang Province and at sea off Preah Sihanouk Province. The 15-day exercise, dubbed Golden Dragon, also involves 14 warships — three from China — two helicopters and 69 armored vehicles and tanks, and includes live-fire, anti-terrorism and humanitarian rescue drills. The hardware on show included the so-called “robodogs” — remote-controlled four-legged robots with automatic rifles mounted on their
A Philippine boat convoy bearing supplies for Filipino fishers yesterday said that it was headed back to port, ditching plans to sail to a reef off the Southeast Asian country after one of their boats was “constantly shadowed” by a Chinese vessel. The Atin Ito (“This Is Ours”) coalition convoy on Wednesday set sail to distribute fuel and food to fishers and assert Philippine rights in the disputed South China Sea. “They will now proceed to the Subic fish port to mark the end of their successful mission,” the group said in a statement. A Philippine Coast Guard vessel escorting the convoy was
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The last piece of privately owned land in the strategic Svalbard archipelago in the arctic is up for grabs, a property likely to entice China, but which Norway does not intend to let go without a fight. The archipelago is located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, in an arctic region that has become a geopolitical and economic hotspot, as the ice melts and relations grow ever frostier between Russia and the West. For 300 million euros (US$326 million), interested parties can acquire the remote Sore Fagerfjord property in southwestern Svalbard. Measuring 60km2 — about the size of Manhattan — the