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A boy walks on a road at the Mamrashan camp for civilians displaced by war, located a half hour's drive from Dohuk city in Iraq, on January 14, 2017. © 2017 Alice Martins/AP Photo |
First, they endured life under ISIS. Then the battles raged, and they saw more lives and property destroyed. In the wake of the conflict, thousands of Yazidis and others from Iraq’s Sinjar district are now legally entitled to be compensated for all they’ve lost. But as they struggle to rebuild, thousands are still waiting for those funds to arrive.
Sinjar is a mountainous district in northwestern Iraq home to a mixed population including the Yazidis, an ethnic and religious minority. In 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) controlled Sinjar and the Yazidis, as well as other ethnic minorities in the region, were killed, kidnapped , enslaved, or raped.
In 2015, a US-led coalition expelled ISIS from Sinjar, but at least 200,000 Sinjaris, including 85 percent of the district’s Yazidi population, continue to languish in displacement camps across northern Iraq.
Meanwhile, those who returned to Sinjar have faced an unstable security situation and inadequate or nonexistent public services, including education, health care, water, and electricity.
Under Iraqi law, the Yazidis and others are entitled to compensation for destruction and damage to their property both by ISIS and the Iraqi and US-led coalition military who fought them. To date, a small number of Yazidis – 420 women – have received compensation under Iraq’s Yazidi Survivors Law.
Others have been encouraged to apply for compensation under another law set up to provide for damages stemming from wartime or terrorist operations. More than 10,000 Sinjaris have applied for reparations under this law, but not a single family has been compensated.
Without compensation, many Sinjaris lack the financial means to rebuild their homes and businesses. Until they receive help, returning home is not an option.
It’s time the Iraqi authorities helped people, many of whom have endured horrific abuses, to go home to rebuild their lives.
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© AP Photo The April 28 edition of this newsletter featured a headline story detailing a Human Rights Watch report that documented excessive force by Peru’s security forces in response to protests that began in December 2022. The report included videos, witness testimony, and other evidence that showed how police use of lethal weapons led to protesters being killed and injured.
The deadliest day of the protests took place on January 9 in the city of Juliaca, where police fired on the crowds indiscriminately. Eighteen protesters and bystanders were killed.
But despite our extensive findings from Juliaca, the Peruvian government insists on telling a version of events that the evidence clearly contradicts.
We’ve compiled much of this evidence into a new multimedia report that refutes the government’s official accounts. Peruvians need answers about what happened that day in Juliaca and the government should ensure it doesn’t happen again. |
| Voters in Turkey will head to the polls in a high-stakes election on May 14 amid concern that the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will exert control over the digital ecosystem to undermine the outcome of the election. |
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| | The Myanmar military used a “thermobaric” munition for an attack on an opposition building in Sagaing Region on April 11. The weapon is designed to cause maximum deaths and was used on an area crowded with civilians. |
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| In a stunning move, Tunisian authorities are attempting to neutralize the country’s largest opposition party, having arrested 17 current and former members, including its leader, and shutting its offices across the country. |
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If you've been following our reporting, you'll know there's a lot going on in the world of human rights these days.
And if you've been reading along here each week (thanks) then you'll also know this is where you can take our weekly quiz and put your knowledge to the test. |
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