To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) establish what has happened to the estimated 3,000 missing Yazidis displaced by IS, and (2) to help the Yazidi population, in particularly Yazidi women and children, to rebuild their communities.
Answered on
25 March 2019
The UK is committed to supporting women and girls who have been victims of sexual violence and that those responsible are brought to justice. We are pushing for justice and accountability for all victims of Daesh. This includes leadership in ensuring the UNSC unanimously adopted Resolution 2379 on Daesh Accountability, and contributing £1m to support the establishment of a UN investigative team (UNITAD) that will collect evidence of Daesh crimes in Iraq.
UK aid has enabled the UN Trust Fund to support the Free Yezidi Foundation, a women’s and children’s centre that provides safety and support for women who have suffered at the hands of Daesh. Furthermore, the UK has contributed over £23 million to the UNDP Funding Facility for Stabilisation (FFS), to help the Iraqi Government stabilise areas of return and re-establish security, basic services and inclusive local governance. UNDP and partners of the FFS regularly consult religious and community leaders in areas in which it is operating, to understand return trends and develop strategies to address the barriers that impact on the decision of families to return and rebuild their communities. In addition to this, in January, DFID announced the allocation of a further £5 million to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). This funding is to support six explosive clearance teams across the country's Sinjar Province to clear explosives from critical areas such as schools, hospitals and roads, which will improve the conditions for communities to return home safely.