The unresolved wounds of Yazidi children kidnapped by the Islamic State

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Fadi, a 10-year-old Yazidi boy, has pieces of shrapnel lodged in his body . It was used as a human shield by the hosts of the self-styled Islamic State. Sahir was turned into a soldier of the caliphate when he was just 15 years old. "They forced me to fight. I had to do it or die. There was no option," he says. Bafreen was the same age when she was sold as a sex slave. Six years after the attack against the Yazidi community in Iraq, Amnesty International denounces this Thursday that 2,000 minors who were able to survive the horror are now victims of an unprecedented psychological and mental crisis.

After regaining freedom, Bafreen - who had given birth to two offspring during her captivity - also had to suffer the forced separation of her children. " Two women and one man came and took my children by force. I will never forget that day. I will never forgive them and neither will the Yazidi community because they all agreed," denounces Bafreen in the report "The Legacy of Terror: The situation of the surviving Yazidi children of the IS ", prepared from interviews with 29 victims and dozens of testimonies from caregivers , relatives, members of NGOs and officials.

In early August 2014, the IS (Islamic State) launched an attack on Mount Sinyar, the home in northwestern Iraq of the Yazidi minority, a follower of a faith linked to Zoroastrianism that mixes elements of ancient Mesopotamian religions with the Christian and Muslim creeds and whose faithful the jihadists consider "devil worshipers". Thousands of Yazidis were unable to escape and were captured by the jihadists. The report puts at 1,992 minors who returned to their families after being kidnapped, tortured, forced to fight or raped, among other human rights violations .

"In the course of our investigation we have discovered that the needs of child victims of sexual violence and those who were child soldiers are far from being met," acknowledges EL MUNDO Nicolette Waldman, Amnesty researcher. "For example, the program available to Yazidi survivors of sexual violence has largely neglected girls , making it essential that programs be tailored to meet the needs of these girls," she outlines.

"We have also found that children forced to fight for IS face long-term health problems and physical disabilities such as loss of arms and legs. Many have refused to return to school after suffering beatings and other forms of torture in the ' IS institutes' they were forced to attend, "adds Waldman. Six years later, the report shows the flaws that have prevented minors who were able to survive IS from reintegrating into their communities, avoiding stigma and overcoming pain.

Of the fourteen IS child soldiers interviewed by Amnesty, more than half acknowledge having received no psychological, health or financial support after a traumatic return, marked by the language barrier - many speak Arabic and have forgotten Kurdish, preventing communication with their relatives-; loss of identity; the insistent questions of their families to know the details of their captivity; or the intense propaganda to which they were subjected. "When I returned, I just wanted to keep my religion [Islam] and not his. At first, I followed the ideology of the IS completely. I thought about praying and it bothered me if someone questioned me about life under the IS . I even defended them "says Sabbah, forcibly recruited when he was nine years old.

In the case of women, between the ages of nine and 17, the medical and psychological problems derived from the systematic rapes they suffered are compounded by the tragedy of those who gave birth as a result of these non-consensual sexual relations. Many have faced separation from their offspring due to the position of the Yazidi Supreme Spiritual Council and Iraqi legislation, which states that every child of an "unknown" Muslim parent must be registered as a Muslim.

Hanan, 24, had her daughter taken from her. Like so many other suffering companions, she has never heard from her offspring again . "My feeling is like that of any mother in this situation. We have thought about killing ourselves or we have tried. We are human beings, we have our rights and we want our children to be with us. As bad as our experience with IS was, we are much worse now. We need a solution, "begs the young woman.

Reattaching the wounds - through access to education, timely psychological support and community acceptance - is a pending issue for which Amnesty calls on local authorities and UN agencies for more resources and dedication. "To address all of this, national authorities should include all minors as beneficiaries of any initiative to redress Yazidi victims of IS crimes. A positive step was taken in April 2019 with the presentation of a well-known bill like 'Yazidi female survivors law' but the draft has some shortcomings, including the absence of children as beneficiaries, 'Waldman said.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Islamic State
• Iraq
• Un

JihadismAl Mawla, the "destroying" caliph that maintains the most brutal essences of the Islamic State

Middle East Islamic State's 'triangles of death' in its former fiefdoms in Syria and Iraq

Conflict Russia and China veto the sending of humanitarian aid to northern Syria

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