Ladies and gentlemen,
3 August is a day of profound sadness for the Yezidi community when we remember those individuals that were lost or faced unimaginable horror, including sexual violence, by Daesh. On this day, we have a special thought for those from your community that remain missing. As the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, I and the entire United Nations system stand with you.
Eight years after the Sinjar attacks, Yezidi and other communities in Iraq still require care, support, and justice. The Government of Iraq committed as early as September 2016 through a Joint Communiqué with the United Nations to provide “services, livelihood support, and reparations for survivors of sexual violence and children born of rape.” My mandate negotiated that commitment because those services and support are what survivors, their families, and communities often desire most in the wake of sexual violence crimes but receive least. We must use this year’s Memorial to ensure that commitments set out in the Joint Communiqué, especially to the provision of services, support and reparations are tangibly implemented on the ground in Iraq and the Kurdistan region. My mandate was one of the first to support the elaboration of the Yezidi Survivors Law, which was enacted in 2021, to provide governmental assistance to survivors. Yet words on paper are never enough. I welcome the Government of Iraq’s recent commitment of substantial funds towards the concrete implementation of the Yezidi Survivors Law. Those funds must be used to provide the concrete benefits guaranteed to survivors: from pensions; rehabilitation measures including medical and psychosocial support; residential plots of land; educational and vocational support; to a percentage of survivors in Government employment. I call upon the Government of Iraq to use a whole-of-government approach to support the Directorate for Survivors Affairs created by the Yezidi Survivors Law to deliver on each of the benefits promised under the law. Further the benefits under this Law must also be accessible and we must reduce the burden on survivors to qualify for benefits under the law. Where survivors provide to authorities, a clear and coherent account of their victimization by Daesh, their account must be accepted and benefits delivered.
Ladies and gentlemen, these benefits are not charity, but tangible legal rights. Indeed, in United Nations Security Council resolution 2467 of 2019, the Council urged governments and the international community to use a “survivor-centered approach” in their response, stressing that holistic support measures, such as those contained within the Yezidi Survivors Law, are necessary for the restoration of international peace and security in the aftermath of widespread and systematic sexual violence. Although conflict-related sexual violence can never be fully repaired, such support measures and services are necessary to help guarantee that survivors can rebuild their lives and communities sustainably. Although the Government of Iraq has made a major financial contribution this year, global experience has demonstrated that assistance and reparations programmes must be funded sustainably as survivors of sexual violence and other international crimes live with impacts that last a lifetime. I further call upon the Government to ensure that this year’s funding is indeed sustainable; and I also call upon the international community to support this programme because Daesh was not only an Iraqi phenomenon but a global one.
Yet we also know that the Yezidi Survivors Law is silent as to the plight of children born of sexual violence in conflict and this remains a persistent gap in our response efforts. These children have a right to an identity and nationality as well as to holistic support, in addition to realizing their maximum potential. These children and their mothers must be free from stigmatization. In January, the United Nations Secretary-General released a report on women and girls who become pregnant as a result of sexual violence in conflict and children born of sexual violence in conflict. This report will be debated before the UN Security Council in September under the Presidency of the Government of France to discuss issues facing these children in Iraq and elsewhere. I encourage the Yezidi community to follow this debate and for the community and the Iraqi government to resolve the status of these children and ensure they have equal protection and dignity under the law.
Although 3 August is an incredibly tragic day in the history of the Yezidi community, let it also be a moment for us to recommit ourselves to the work of supporting Yezidi and other survivors of Daesh’s crimes and to end the scourge of sexual violence once and for all.
Thank you.