Absent Justice in Shingal: A People Still Waiting to Return Home

Jihan Zine Alo

Journalist and Translator

Head of the Section, Gulf Center for Iranian Studies

Absent Justice in Shingal: The Yazidi Cause between Power Struggles and the Right to Protection

Today, the Yazidis stand as one of the most vulnerable and existentially threatened indigenous communities in the Middle East. This is true not only due to the horrific historical atrocities they have endured, but because the fertile ground and political climate that enabled those massacres remain largely intact. Although the military defeat of ISIS put an end to the immediate existential threat posed by the self-proclaimed "Caliphate," it failed to dismantle the deep political, legal, and structural factors that trap the Yazidis in a relentless cycle of chronic insecurity. Today, more than a decade after the brutal genocide that targeted them in August 2014, the Yazidi cause continues to ache as one of the most pressing humanitarian and political issues in Mesopotamia. In its essence, this issue transcends field security calculations and superficial reconstruction, directly touching upon the existential survival of an ancient people, the challenge of preserving a unique religious and spiritual heritage, and serving as a true test of the conscience and credibility of regional and international actors who have repeatedly chanted the slogan "Never Again."

The Yazidis constitute a cornerstone and an organic, authentic part of the historical and cultural fabric of Kurdistan and Mesopotamia. Their spiritual religious heritage, oral traditions, sacred geography, and cohesive social institutions collectively represent one of the oldest and most profound living belief systems in the region. Nonetheless, the pages of their history have been written with the ink of perpetual persecution, systematic marginalization, and attempts at existential uprooting and annihilation. Consequently, successive generations of Yazidis have inherited not only a rich cultural identity but also a collective memory burdened by the agony of farmans (decrees of massacre) and the arduous struggle for survival. The genocide perpetrated by ISIS was neither a sudden event nor isolated from its historical context; rather, it was the bloody culmination of cumulative patterns of structural marginalization and discrimination that left the Yazidi community exposed and vulnerable to the storm of extremist violence and brutality that swept through the Kurdistan Region and its adjacent territories.

The tragedy of August 2014 exposed, in a tragic manner that stains the conscience of humanity, the catastrophic cost of political fragmentation and power struggles in areas inhabited by vulnerable religious minorities. Within a matter of days, thousands of Yazidi civilians were executed in cold blood, thousands of women and children were dragged into the abyss of captivity and abduction, and entire local communities were decimated and erased. While international and global attention focused on documenting the atrocities and crimes themselves, a deafening silence and an absolute absence of justice prevailed regarding the study and understanding of the structural contexts that paved the way for them to occur. The Yazidi tragedy was not the offspring of dark, terrorist ideology alone; it was the direct product of fatal security vacuums, acute governance failures, fragmented decision-making centers, and the lack of a cohesive national and regional strategy to protect defenseless civilians in times of major crises.

Today, the region of Shingal (Sinjar) remains the living testament and the clearest manifestation of these unresolved structural dilemmas. Instead of rising from the ashes as a global symbol of recovery and resilience, this wounded city has turned into an open arena for frenetic political and military competition among multiple forces and actors. Here, the authorities of the Iraqi Federal Government, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), local forces, and various factions under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) overlap and clash. This administrative duality and military pluralism have paralyzed public life, hindered stabilization efforts, and held the reconstruction process hostage to political rivalries.

For the tens of thousands of Yazidi families languishing under the burden of forced displacement in camps, the fundamental obstacle preventing their return home is not merely the physical rubble and destruction of their houses, but a profound "crisis of trust." Rebuilding walls, paving roads, and constructing schools will not grant displaced persons the peace of mind to return as long as the existential question remains unanswered: Who governs Shingal? Who protects our families' security? And have the dynamics that allowed yesterday's genocide to occur truly changed? The continued displacement of the vast majority of the Yazidi community raises major questions about the seriousness and efficacy of international and regional stabilization efforts, clearly revealing the extent to which political powers are willing to prioritize their strategic interests and power struggles over the human security of the vulnerable.

Furthermore, the ongoing militarization of Shingal has imposed an immense psychological and emotional burden on a community whose deep wounds have yet to heal. The presence of armed forces with conflicting loyalties and flags in the city's alleys and villages does not offer reassurance to the survivors; instead, it reproduces feelings of fear, apprehension, and constant existential threat. Every political skirmish or suspicious military movement awakens within them the fragility of their current reality and threatens to collapse the fragile civil peace at any moment. Thus, the urgent human need to protect the Yazidi individual has become hostage to major regional calculations that far transcend the rights and hopes of the local population, relegating the protection of their lives to a secondary status on the chessboard of conflicting interests.

Crafting a sustainable and secure future for Shingal requires far more than mere security patches or temporary, short-sighted political deals. It demands the building of a legitimate local governance system, emerging from the will of the indigenous population and representing their aspirations, fundamentally grounded in a security philosophy that places the dignity and human rights of the Yazidi people at the very top of its priorities. It also requires isolating the humanitarian and daily livelihood file entirely from the corridors of narrow partisan and regional rivalries, so that the Yazidi person does not find themselves coerced to compromise their identity or align with one party against another in exchange for the most basic necessities of security and a decent life.

The chapters of the Yazidi tragedy do not stop at the Iraqi borders; they extend to take other forms of human suffering in neighboring countries, particularly in Syria, where legal marginalization and constitutional denial emerge as one of the deepest sources of existential vulnerability for the Yazidis there. For long decades, the Syrian legislative system has failed to grant the Yazidi religion full legal and official recognition as an independent religion with its own specificity. This has bound the Yazidi community with suffocating legal restrictions, depriving them of personal status rights, the regulation of marriage and inheritance affairs, and the freedom to manage their endowments and spiritual and community institutions independently.

The absence of this legal and legislative recognition is not merely a symbolic or passing administrative issue; rather, it is an artery that feeds their daily and existential marginalization. When the authority of the law deprives a religious group of its official identity, it strips it of its human right to cultural existence and to manage its affairs in accordance with its distinctiveness and ancient heritage. In the Syrian Yazidi case, this legal vacuum contributes to the erosion of identity specificity and accelerates the pace of forced assimilation, as well as demographic and social dispersion.

The details of the Syrian case reveal a deeper structural crisis regarding the legal reality of religious minorities across the Middle East. Constitutional recognition is not merely a bureaucratic detail; it is the official declaration of accepting pluralism and recognizing the "Other" as an equal partner in citizenship within the state's geography. When this constitutional cover is absent, communities become easy prey to demographic, social, and political pressures. For the Yazidis who have just survived the clutches of one of the most horrific genocides of the twenty-first century, this legal neglect and constitutional invisibility represent another form of silent existential threat, no less dangerous and cruel than the language of weapons and fire.

Therefore, providing genuine protection that safeguards the existence of Yazidis in Syria inevitably demands a comprehensive constitutional and legal review of existing legislative frameworks. This must entail explicit constitutional recognition of the Yazidi religion, the protection of the cultural, religious, and civil rights of its adherents, and the provision of legal mechanisms to manage their community institutions and spiritual courts with complete independence. Such fundamental reforms would not only do justice to the Yazidis, but would also pave the way for building societies based on partnership, true citizenship, and human pluralism.

From a Kurdistan perspective, the Yazidi cause acquires an exceptionally significant moral, historical, and national dimension. The Yazidis are not merely a religious sect living on the fringes of Kurdistan; rather, they are the guardians of the authentic Kurdish heritage and identity, and the keepers of the ancient folklore, language, and historical memory of Kurdistan. Their peaceful villages, their towering shrines such as the holy Temple of Lalish, and their philosophy of life constitute an inseparable part of the collective Kurdish identity and consciousness. From this standpoint, any threat to their existence or target on their uniqueness is a stab in the heart of the cultural and civilizational diversity of Kurdistan as a whole.

Based on this existential and fateful interconnection, an extraordinary historical, moral, and legal responsibility falls upon the political forces and institutions of the Kurdistan Region to protect and safeguard the Yazidi community. Under no circumstances can Yazidi security and stability be accepted as a bargaining chip in partisan disputes, or held hostage to hazardous ideological and political competition. The bitter experience of 2014 proved that the weak and forgotten are the first to pay a heavy price in their blood and dignity when partisan and political divisions overshadow the principles of collective defense and shared human security. Consequently, all political forces must adopt the protection of the Yazidis as a steadfast doctrine and a firm moral commitment above any partisan or transient interests.

This historical responsibility is not limited to the purely security and military aspect. Rather, protection in its comprehensive and modern sense extends to include the psychological rehabilitation of male and female survivors, the genuine reconstruction of infrastructure, the enhancement of the educational system with curricula that respect religious specificity, the creation of sustainable economic development opportunities, and the preservation of their unique religious and cultural heritage from extinction. Security devoid of development and citizenship is merely a temporary postponement of tragedies; true safety lies in an integrated framework that merges military protection with human and social development.

On the international stage, the Yazidi cause has become a crucial test and a defining trial of the international community's ability to transition from verbal condemnation of genocide to active on-the-ground policies to prevent its recurrence. The world and international forums have officially recognized that what the Yazidis endured amounts to genocide; however, this symbolic recognition remains incapable of delivering justice on the ground or curbing future tragedies unless it is coupled with tangible steps. The ongoing bitter reality of displacement, the sluggish pace of reconstruction, the ambiguous fate of thousands of abducted men and women, and the persistent legal vulnerability are all clear indicators that the international community and regional governments are still falling short of their post-genocide humanitarian obligations.

The ongoing Yazidi suffering underscores a self-evident truth: political security and legal and social justice are two sides of the same coin for the survival of indigenous communities. A community rising from the ashes of an existential genocide cannot heal its psychological and social wounds while facing perpetual legal marginalization and continuous security anxiety. Therefore, there is an urgent need to formulate an integrated international-regional rescue strategy that ensures security stability, grants legal and constitutional recognition, revives the local economy, and protects the religious identity and societal specificity of the Yazidis.

More than a decade after that humanitarian holocaust, the Yazidis continue to embody a difficult equation: the vulnerability of targeted minorities on one hand, and their legendary, extraordinary capacity for resilience and clinging to life on the other. Their story is not merely chapters of suffering and victimhood; it is the tale of a great people who refused to break, resisted cultural and physical erasure, and held fast to their land and ancient identity. However, this legendary resilience must never be turned into a scapegoat or an excuse for global inaction and complacency. No people should ever be demanded to prove their worthiness of survival by enduring repeated massacres and suffering to validate their natural, self-evident right to a life of dignity.

The dawn of a secure and sustainable future for the Yazidis depends entirely on the readiness of the international community, regional governments, and Kurdish political forces to transcend superficial expressions of sympathy and begin implementing structural and radical solutions on the ground. Shingal must be transformed from a complex, draining front of political and military conflict into an oasis of peace, security, and stability to which its people can return with heads held high and without fear. The Yazidi identity must be crowned with full constitutional and legal recognition that protects them wherever they may be, and all political forces must pledge never to allow their partisan interests and rivalries to threaten the security of this unique human community. Only then can this ancient, historical people turn the painful pages of survival to embark upon horizons of security, development, and human and cultural prosperity, shaping their long-awaited tomorrow free from the specter of annihilation and the existential threat that has haunted them for centuries.