ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Germany’s parliament on Thursday voted to recognize the 2014 crimes against the Yazidis in their hometown of Shingal by the Islamic State (ISIS) as “genocide,” calling on the government to take measures to support the ethnoreligious group.
ISIS attacked the disputed town of Shingal in the summer of 2014, killing and kidnapping thousands of Yazidis, with the fate of a large number of them remaining unclear.
The German parliament, Bundestag, convened on Thursday and the majority of its members voted to recognize the ISIS crimes against Yazidis as “genocide.”
Germany’s lower house of parliament said in the resolution that the move came “following the legal evaluations of investigators from the United Nations,” reported DW.
The resolution urges German courts to take more action against suspects involved in the crimes and to increase financial support for Yazidis.
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock tweeted in the Kurmanji and Sorani dialects of the Kurdish language, saying that no parliamentary decision can undo the sufferings of Yazidis but “I am deeply convinced that this decision makes a difference: a crucial step towards acknowledging suffering and towards justice for the survivors.”
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani welcomed the decision, thanking Germany for its support. “We hope that other European countries and others in the world follow suit, and justice is served for the victims.”
A German court in 2021 convicted an Iraqi man for his alleged role in the crime against Yazidis.
The United Nations, the European Parliament, and other nations including the United States, Belgium, Canada, and the Netherlands have also recognized ISIS crimes against the Yazidis as “genocide.”
More than 6,000 Yazidis were kidnapped when ISIS attacked their heartland of Shingal in Nineveh province, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Office for Rescuing Kidnapped Yazidis. Over 2,000 remain missing.
Germany has been an essential member of the global coalition against ISIS.
