I feel that my first post on this blog should address the current tragedy taking place in Iraq. After a decade of fighting in Iraq it seemed that Pandora's Box had finally been shut. The world's attention has now since been directed towards places such as Syria and Gaza. But what seems like out of no where, a new and wealthy terrorist organization, known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), made it's debut last June. ISIS, through its numbers and large arsenal, has been able to establish control in the major cities of Iraq and areas of Syria.
The goal of ISIS is to create an Islamic caliphate in these areas and to establish authority over all 1.5 billion Muslims on Earth. An estimated 1.2 million Iraqi's have been driven from their homes. This terrorist group is so ruthless that even Al-Queda has cut ties with them.
ISIS has since started to target a minority in Iraq, the Yazidis. Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking minority who's faith is tied to Abrahamic (the belief that Judaism, Islam and Christianity come from the same source, Abraham) and Zoroastrianism (one of the oldest and smallest monotheistic religions). There are about 700,000 to 800,000 Yazidis in the world, with 90% of them in Iraq. ISIS militants have denounced the Yazidi culture and will not hesitate to kill without cause. They view their culture as blasphemous and unorthodox.
This past August, ISIS began to storm Yazidi villages in the Mount Sinjar area (northern Iraq near the Syrian boarder). Around 400,000 Yazidi's have fled their homes in pursuit of refuge. But many have not been able to escape torture and execution.
Now to the crux of the story: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has reported that around 300 Yazidi women have been sold to ISIS fighters for $1,000 each. The fighters call them "al Sabaya," or "women captured in war." The SOHR has officially confirmed that 27 of these women have been sold as brides. They have been taken from Iraq to Syria, married off and forced to convert to Islam.
According to Heiner Beilfeldt, the UN religious rights monitor, "We have reports of women being executed and unverified reports that strongly suggest that hundreds of women and children have been kidnapped-many of the teenagers have been sexually assaulted, and women have been assigned or sold to ISIS fighters."
The whereabouts of the rest of the 300 women are unknown.
This is truly a crime against humanity that must be stopped. Women are being treated as objects and sold as brides. This is the 21st century and yet this story seems as if it were an event from the Medieval period. Thousands of Yazidi refugees are lost in their agony as they wait for the return of their wives, daughters, mothers and sisters. But now 27 of those 300 may be lost forever.
After a pointless decade-long war, I as well as many others cringe at the thought of entering into another war in Iraq. But as human beings, should we just sit and watch as other human beings are bought and sold as slaves?
I do not want to enter into another war, but I do want these women to be returned to their people. I want these people to be given back their religious freedom.
- http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-sells-300-yazidi-women-brides-fighters-recent-weeks-1674452
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/zoroastrian/ataglance/glance.shtml
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions
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