Yazidi leaders to allow Isis rape survivors to return with children

[OtepotiLilliane42]

What can one say about this? It's good news that the women can now go home, but the story of their abduction and rape by the Isis fighters
makes me feel so angry, especially when the bloody US administration has blocked a resolution condemning the use of rape in war. Every single member of Trump's woeful cabinet should be chained to a chair and made to to read Cathy Otten's 2017 article 'Slaves of Isis' then they might perhaps understand why the resolution needed to have been passed as it was originally drafted. 'Slaves of Isis' is heartbreaking in its account of the brutal sexual violence the Yazdi women endured, and its almost too difficult to read at times. The courage and spirit of the Yazidi girls and women under such duress is astonishing.

www.pri.org/stories/2019-04-24/un-resolution-condemning-sexual-violence-against-women-shouldve-been

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/27/yazidi-leaders-to-allow-isis-survivors-to-return-with-children

www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/25/slaves-of-isis-the-long-walk-of-the-yazidi-women

'To allow' implies the women were complicit in their rape, but the elders are graciously overlooking what they did.

Punish women for getting pregnant as a result of rape. Sickening. The poor women.

I know Outanabout it is sickening that women who refused to give up their children were exiled, and couldn't go home. They were faced with a terrible decision, which shouldn't have been asked of them. Its good that pressure from many organisations resulted in a change of heart from the Yazidi Supreme Spiritual Council. And since Isis killed at least 5,000 Yazidi men the women would have been mourning the loss of husbands, fathers, brothers and other male relatives all the while they were suffering the trauma of repeated rape.

There's been a lot of press reports and controversy over Shamima Begum, but rather less over the ongoing plight of the Yazidi women. It ought to be better known.

I don't know if it's that straightforward

Louisa Loveluck
@leloveluck
The Yazidi Supreme Spiritual Council has clarified that it will not accept into the community children born to ISIS fathers as a result of rape. Only those who were kidnaped by the group during the genocide.

The council implied last week that children born of genocidal rape wld be welcomed back, giving hope to mothers who feared they'd have to abandon children in order to return home. But statement proved highly controversial among community, some politicians explicitly rejected it.

The Q of what happens to these children is deeply painful for Yazidi community. According to the faith & also to Iraqi law, a child is only considered Yazidi if they have 2 Yazidi parents. Children of the 1000s kidnapped & sexually enslaved by ISIS are seen by many as outcasts.

twitter.com/leloveluck/status/1122146836691681280

Oh yes. www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/b60947c5-22b5-421b-bc22-1efc5c3ab5ea

Are the Supreme Spiritual Council all men by any remote chance? "Deeply painful for the community", how much more deeply painful is it for women who have to deal with pragmatics over men's ideas and men's rules?

These poor poor women. Just when they should be able to regain some sort of normal life a different group of men decide they have the right to control their futures.

Cathy Otten is an old friend of mine. Her writing is brilliant and her work with the Yazidis and subsequent book are well worth reading.

EweSurname I found this Daily Beast article from Louisa Loveluck's twitter feed very helpful in explaining the complexities of the situation for the Yazidi community with regard to the children born of Isis fathers, so thank you for posting it.

www.thedailybeast.com/the-caliphate-is-crushed-but-isis-infantsinnocent-abandoned-and-despisedlive-on

Just discovered this site too, which monitors what's happening to women around the world.

www.womensmediacenter.com/women-under-siege

And then there is this article below, from the UNWomen website. It's incredibly depressing to read of such violence, and casual brutality against women from so many countries ... sometimes I feel I'd rather not know. But then I read inspiring stories of women getting together to fight for their rights, and I almost feel ashamed that I'm lucky enough to have lived a life free of the kind of trauma that so many women experience.

www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women