Yazidis in Iraq protest over the kidnapping of children by the PKK

Yazidi families are calling on the UN and the central government in Baghdad to save children kidnapped by the terrorist organisation.

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from Daesh terrorists in Sinjar town, walk towards the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain, near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah Governorate, Iraq, August 11, 2014.
Reuters

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from Daesh terrorists in Sinjar town, walk towards the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain, near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah Governorate, Iraq, August 11, 2014.

Iraqi Yazidis called on the central government in Baghdad to save the children who have been abducted by terrorist organisation, the PKK, according to a local official.

Yazidis have long been under pressure from the PKK in the northern Sinjar region of Iraq.

They have held occasional demonstrations demanding the return of those abducted by terrorists in an effort to push the central government and the UN to act.

"The PKK has abducted tens of our young people. That's why the PKK needs to be removed from the region," said Veyis Naif, head of Sinjar's local council.

Naif also urged relevant institutions and officials to take action against the PKK’s atrocities.

The terrorist organisation has also been accused of confiscating land and not allowing people to harvest crops.

"If the PKK were not here, 80 percent of the Shengali [Sinjar] people would have returned to their homes by now," he said, adding that locals wanted a common force, including Iraqi military and Peshmerga forces, to be deployed in the region to eliminate the terrorists.

Yazidi families also held protests in the Sinjar mountains.

Haydar Reso, who is the father of one of the children taken by the PKK, says he is determined to keep protesting until the government meets their demand.

"My son was abducted about a year ago [...] I want the Iraqi government to rescue my son from the PKK," a Yazidi mother said.

A joint statement on behalf of the Yazidis in Sinjar was published after the demonstration, reiterating that the presence of PKK terrorists in the region would never be accepted.

"The PKK should leave Sinjar since Daesh members who committed great crimes against humanity against the Yazidis are taking sides with the PKK," the statement said.

In mid-2014, Daesh overran roughly one-third of Iraq, including Mosul which it took as its main stronghold.

It also captured Sinjar, where it is accused of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the local Yazidi population. 

By late 2017, the Iraqi army -- with the help of the US-led military coalition -- recovered most if not all the territories lost to the terrorist group.

YPG/PKK recruitment of children

Many fear that their children could be recruited into the PKK.

According to a UN report, "the YPG/SDF, recruited and accepted girls and boys under the age of 18 into their ranks." The YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK.

"I am appalled by the flagrant disregard for the laws of war and the Convention on the Rights of the Child by all parties involved in the conflict," said Pinheiro.

"While the government of the Syrian Arab Republic has the primary responsibility for the protection of boys and girls in the country, all of the actors in this conflict must do more to protect children and preserve the country's future generation," he noted.

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