With help from two Yazidi-run nonprofits, Free Yezidi Foundation and Yazda, Luis Moreno-Ocampo was able to reach Lalish — a mountain village in Kurdistan in northern Iraq that Yazidis deem a holy site — last week. The former International Criminal Court chief prosecutor was there to discuss what he said could be a strong case for Yazidi genocide to be brought to trial at the ICC.
FYF and Yazda — which organized Moreno-Ocampo’s trip — are just some of the organizations delivering much-needed assistance to the Yazidis, a largely ethnically Kurdish group that has been the target of the Islamic State group since last year.
But religious violence against the Yazidis is not a recent occurrence. Incorporating aspects of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam into their beliefs, the Yazidis have had a long history of being subjected to persecution. Their belief in Melek Taus, a fallen angel whom Yazidis consider to have redeemed himself, led to a centuries-old accusation of devil worship and compelled the group to seek refuge in Iraq’s remote mountain regions, Thomas Schmidinger, who specializes in Kurdish politics at the University of Vienna, told the National Geographic.