ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock told Rudaw on Thursday that her country cannot undo the 2014 massacre of Yazidis by the Islamic State (ISIS) but it can at least bring justice.
The German parliament, Bundestag, convened on Thursday and the majority of its members voted to recognize the ISIS crimes against Yazidis as “genocide.”
“We cannot undo this mass killing but we can bring justice. Today, the German parliament decided to recognize the mass killing as genocide. This is not a symbolic thing. We have to identify the murderers to bring justice. We should not just remember and condemn it because more than 3,000 women are still missing,” Baerbock told Rudaw on Thursday after the resolution.
“We have to endeavour to return them all to the Yazidi community. Thousands of Yazidis still live in camps. We have to work on renovating their areas so that they can return home. We know that this is very difficult because the security of the region plays a key role in this regard,” she added.
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.
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.
“Another important point for me is that I personally went there [Shingal] and saw many women. I also saw children who had been raped. We have to work on those women and children. Some of them do not have ID cards and do not want to return. We have to bring them to Germany and put them with the children and families whom they want to be with. We should also support those who want to stay in northern Iraq. It is also very important to provide psychological support,” noted the German minister during the interview with Rudaw.
Asked how Germany can help the Kurdistan Region in order for Germany’s decisions to be implemented, the minister replied that they can provide support in terms of renovation “because Shingal is important for them [Yazidis] and they want to return to their homes. We are working from different sides in this regard. We as Germany will do whatever is required.”
Baerbock tweeted in the Kurmanji and Sorani dialects of the Kurdish language earlier in the day, she was “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.”
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.
