Good morning to you. In the beginning and on behalf of all, I want to thank you for giving me the chance to bring you the facts of what has happened to the Yazidis. I want to say that I'm sorry if my English is not so good.
On August 3, 2014, the so-called Islamic State invaded the Sinjar region, which is inhabited mostly by my fellow Yazidis. Perhaps you have heard and learned about the massacres, the displacement, and the kidnapping of women and children, but I think you have not learned about the details of what really happened. Unfortunately, I think I won't be able to take enough time to summarize the heinous cases even partially. Thousands of Yazidis have been killed: by ISIS directly or indirectly, by the forced march, their escape, the terrible conditions of the Sinjar Mountains.
The biggest tragedy took place in the village of Kocho. In Kocho, 700 people have been kidnapped, mostly women and children aged 12 years and younger, while the rest of the men, about 1,200, were murdered in cold blood, destroying the entire town.
The second tragedy is that the Yazidi girls who were kidnapped by ISIS in the area around Mosul have been sold at $150 per girl, many of them in Syria, and have been treated with unthinkable cruelty.
In addition to forced conversions and rape, over just a few short months while the attention of the war is turned away, more than 5,000 Yazidi women, children, and men have been kidnapped by ISIS. No one has yet been able to help them, find them, and bring them back home.
A small but ancient and proud culture and historic religious community of the Yazidi people may come to a complete and total end. Almost 90% of the Yazidi people of Iraq—400,000 people—are now refugees across the Kurdistan region. They fled their homes in August with absolutely nothing—no documents, no warm clothes, no bedding—in this cold weather. Without shelter, children and entire families are sleeping on the street or under makeshift tents that are not suitable for living in.
Without heat or electricity, fires flare up in the camp. Two weeks ago three children burned to death in a tent that was ignited by a candle, and there was no easy access to water to put the fire out. Even in the three camps provided by the UN—Shariya, Khanke, and Bajit Kandala—in the best of circumstances there is one toilet per 18 families, and for each 50 families one shower room.
I am deeply sad and upset that I must report that the refugee situation is getting worse day by day and hour by hour.
Of course, we are thankful for what we have received, but it is much too late and too little, and our people live in constant fear and in danger from both nature and ISIS.
I am grateful to you for giving me this opportunity to address the Canadian people and ask your government to help my people, the Yazidi people.
Those who have not been killed by ISIS will die trying to survive as refugees in the cold without basic needs, without food, without support. This is a tragedy. It must be stopped before the genocide of an entire nation is on the world's conscience.
We need the Canadian people to hear our plea and help us, shelter us, feed us, and care for our refugees, so they may go home again. We need this now before it is too late.
We need the Canadian people to hear our plea, and help us find and free our enslaved people. All captured prisoners need to be released. We need this now before it is too late.
We need the Canadian people to hear our plea and help us to receive international protection for our people. We need this now before it is too late.
I would like to thank each one of you in advance for giving me this chance to be here on behalf of an entire people.