They were kidnapped, tortured, forced to fight, raped. From 2014 to 2017, 1,992 Yazidi children, this Kurdish-speaking community of more than 100,000 people in Iraq, were at the clutches of the Islamic State (IS) organization in northern Iraq. Returning to their families, often in refugee camps, they are struggling to overcome their trauma, warns in its latest Amnesty International report. 

"If their nightmare has ended, they are still living through difficult times: their physical and mental health must be the priority so that they can truly reintegrate their families and their communities", underlines the NGO, which has conducted interviews with dozens of 'between them. 

Relearn to live 

Some must relearn how to live after an amputation, others with nightmares, and above all, all must reconnect with a community that the jihadists have forced them to hate. Many, kidnapped young, no longer speak Kurdish, but the Arabic learned from the jihadists. Some have even been renamed.

Above all, many were forced to take up arms. Amnesty quotes one of them, Sahir, who was forcibly recruited at the age of 15 "on pain of death". On his return, he said, "I just wanted someone to tell me: 'I'm here for you', but it never happened."

The girls have suffered rape and pregnancy, and are still paying the consequences today. "I didn't want this man's child, I never want to see him again, but I want my child," says Janane, 22, as the highest Yazidi religious authorities ban any child born to a non-parent. Yazidi.

"We all thought about killing ourselves or trying to do it", adds Hanane, 24, who no longer sees her daughter. "Whatever we lived under ISIS, we suffer even more today."

The essential return to school 

These children must also be able to return to school, a place of socialization essential to their recovery, assures the NGO which stresses that tens of thousands of Yazidis still live in refugee camps. A challenge for families who have ruined themselves to pay thousands of euros in ransom and recover their child, says Amnesty.

With AFP 

The summary of the week France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR