Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  What is now called the disputed area is the Nineveh plain and the Sinjar region. In both areas, more than 85% to 90% of the population are Yazidis and Christians, and they have lived together like brothers and sisters for thousands of years. In fact, they have saved each other, to the extent that they could save one another.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In the Yazidi region of Sinjar, the majority were Yazidis and the others were the minority, like the Turkmen, who were in Tal Afar, which is about 25 miles east of Sinjar. In the Nineveh plain, most of the area is Yazidis and Christians together. Either way, we are kind of grouped together in one region so I don't think we're going to have any problem.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  On my behalf and on my colleagues' behalf, I would like to thank you so much for inviting us. I would like to thank all the committee members and all the people who attended here. Thank you so much for having us here and for listening to what we have been through. We are not only fighting for the Yazidis.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The fairest solution and the only solution would be an autonomous region within federal Iraq for the Yazidis and Chaldo-Assyrians. Now it's called the disputed area. Both the central government and the KRG government are fighting for the indigenous land. Canada was one of the countries that held that the KRG had to be a safe autonomy in 1991, and the U.S. and Europe.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Both the Yazidis and Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, from the first day, they formed their armed...and whoever owned a gun. For example, on Sinjar mountain, no internationals went to support them or to save them. They were saved by the local Yazidis, with only very basic weapons, such as AK-47s, and for the Assyrians, it's the same thing.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. We work closely with the Assyrian Aid Society, so we have very good contact with the Assyrian democratic movement in northern Iraq. That has its own militia to protect the Christians in northern Iraq.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The discrimination is coming from the KRG. Under the Saddam regime for 34 years, Saddam imposed Arabic ethnicity on Yazidis. Then, when Saddam was gone, the KRG took over Saddam's unfinished work and they imposed Kurdification on Yazidis. They already have bought many Yazidis with money, including the Yazidi prince and others, like Khairi Bozani, or Mahama Khalil.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The Yazidis, Christians, and Sabians in Iraq have tried many times to survive together with the Muslims, but unfortunately, when there is an attack, they point their guns on their neighbours—

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It would be greatly appreciated if Islam could accept a separation from the state and from politics. That would be great, but unfortunately, you don't see that anywhere in the Muslim world, especially in the Middle East. I was in the city of Dohuk in December of 2014, and I heard a mullah on a loudspeaker saying that ISIS is doing the right thing in killing the infidels.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would recommend that you work closely with the Yezidi Human Rights Organization on the ground and the Assyrian Aid Society. The Assyrian Aid Society has been very helpful. They collect donations from around the world, from churches, and they provide equally to Yazidis and Christians.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Whoever you heard that from, it's not true. I think you saw many pictures where I am with an abducted Yazidi girl who I met in northern Iraq. Some of the Yazidi girls were as young as 12 years old. They were forced to marry 80-year-old men in Mosul and Syria, and the rest of Iraq and Syria.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We are trying our best to help them with psychosocial help, as well as medications. I gave a list to you. We have been helping them with other organizations, financially and with psychosocial help. If the Yazidis don't like these women in their community, why am I here today to plead and to urge you to bring those Yazidi girls to Canada, to live as humans with dignity?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  A long-term solution.... Lalish is the only Yazidi holy place in the world, and our history goes back for more than 6,000 years. We are the people from that land since the birth of humanity. The long-term solution would be to find ways to work together. Now we work with some U.S. congressmen and women.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Seven hundred and fifty years ago, the Yazidi were estimated at 23 million. From Mesopotamia to Sumeria to Babylon to Assyria, that land has been given different names. In the past 100 years, it has been called Iraq. Because the Yazidi are not Muslim and because our faith is based on nature, according to Islamic sharia, we're what they call “the people without book”.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The Yazidis' life was very peaceful. The Yazidis and the Chaldo-Assyrians have lived together with the Armenians, with the Jewish community, with Zoroastrians, and with Sabians for thousands of years. Now, in our calendar, we are celebrating the 6,766th year. We are from an ancient time, from Sumeria, to Babylon, to Assyria, to Mesopotamia, and into Iraq today.