One year after the 73rd massacre….

Zehra Doğan/JINHA

NEWS CENTER - One year has gone by since Daesh launched a campaign of massacre and rape against the Êzidî people.For thousands of Êzidî women, this has been a year of losing their families, rape and trauma.In this series, JINHA looks back at Êzidî women's year of struggle.

On August 3, 2014, Daesh kidnapped approximately 7,000 women and children, from the Êzidî city of Shengal, located in Iraq's Federal Kurdistan Region. For the Êzidîs, survivors of centuries of massacres, the attack on their holy city was a traumatic one. Daesh massacred men and boys while kidnapping women and children on a massive scale. According to unofficial figures, around 500 women have managed to escape by their own devices. Thousands more women continue to be sold today in "slave markets" set up in Daesh-held cities and as far afield as Saudi Arabia.

That August, the Êzidîs who escaped themassacre took the dusty road out of Shengal on foot. It was a death march for thousands, who died from hunger and thirst on the road. Guerrillas affiliated with the HPG and YJA-Star opened a safe corridor from Shengal to the Rojava autonomous region in Syria. Thousands of Êzidî women and children were evacuated to the Newroz refugee camp in the city of Dêrik. Other Êzidîs fled to refugee campsin Turkey.

Many of the women who escaped from Daesh chose to head for the cities of the Federal Kurdistan Region, rather than live in refugee camps. These women live in high numbers in the cities of Zakho and Duhok. Theyreport that as women continue to be captured by Daesh, the number in Daesh captivity is only rising.Among them are Êzidî, Assyrian, Armenian, Alevi, Jewish and Turkmen women. These women are raped and sold multiple times in captivity, and suicide rates are high.

Meanwhile, rehabilitation efforts have been slim for the survivors. Women say that repeatedly describing their trauma to UN delegations and visitors has only renewed their trauma. With no serious effort to rehabilitate these women in the places where they live, their only option for rehabilitation is often to leave behind their home by going to Europe as refugees.

Today, on the slopesof the Shengal Mountains, around 10,000 more Êzidîs live in a camp in the mountains above their occupied city. Êzidîs refer to August 3, 2014 as the "73rddecree" against their people--referring to a history of orders by the various empires ruling their land, calling for their extermination. For the past year, fighters have been defending Shengal with a commitment not to allow a 74th decree.Many Êzidîs, including survivors of Daesh captivity, have joined this struggle.

For the 10,000 Êzîdîs living in the mountains, the fight to stay alive is itself an act of resistance. While Êzidî children roam the slopes of Shengal gathering firewood, educational programs and people's assemblies have begun in the camps. For the women organizing themselves in these camps, it is time to say "never again" to rape and to begin organizing a woman-oriented life.

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