Hungary helps Yezidis

On August 3rd, seven years ago, almost 3,000 Yazidis were executed by ISIS militants in a day in Sinjar village and its vicinity in Northern Iraq. Members of the terrorist organization massacred families, recruited children as militants and drag away more than 7,000 people as slaves. The whereabouts of approximately 2,600 Yazidi women are still unknown. At the Memorial Day conference organized by Free Yazidi Foundation, Yazidi survivors shared their memories about what they had been through and addressed the communities’ current challenges.

At the international event, Tristan Azbej, State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and the Hungary Helps Program noted: during his visit in the Northern Iraqi refugee camp established for Yazidi refugees, he found that the situation was safe. The State Secretary visited the town of Khanke also where approximately 14,000 Yazidis live as internally displaced persons.

Within the framework of the Hungary Helps Program, Hungary has supported the establishment of a bakery near the town’s refugee camp. The bakery helped the professional training of Yazidi IDP women and girls and created new job opportunities for them as well. Almost 100 Yazidi refugee women were selected to participate in the project. During the theoretical training, those chosen could acquire basic mathematical, business and financial knowledge to operate the bakery successfully.

”We should be more concerned about people’s lives. Thousands of Yazidi women and children have been through traumatic events” – the State Secretary emphasized indicating that masses of people are in need of rehabilitation.

Since 2019, Hungary has been assisting the settlement and return of Yazidi refugees in the Iraqi Sinjar region and Dahuk Governorate through 5 reconstruction, rehabilitation, educational, and health projects within the framework of the Hungary Helps Program.