Iraq
Khalaf Shingali, Iraqi PM advisor for Yazidi affairs speaking to Rudaw on March 2, 2024. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi government is assessing 14,000 applications for compensation from Yazidis who fled Shingal during the Islamic State’s (ISIS) reign of terror, a government advisor said on Saturday.
“Around 1,000 applications are about to finish and the compensation committee has 14,000 applications to assess,” Khalaf Shingali, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s advisor for Yazidi affairs, told Rudaw.
On August 3, 2014, ISIS militants seized the Shingal district of northern Iraq, committing genocide against the Yazidi minority. Thousands fled their homes as the militants systematically killed men and older women, and enslaved younger women and children. More than 5,000 Yazidis were killed in the genocide.
Shingal was liberated from the group in late 2015, but lack of reconstruction, political disputes, and ongoing insecurity have prevented most families from returning to their homes.
Baghdad reached a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in October of 2020 over the governance and security of Shingal, dubbed the Shingal agreement, to allow displaced families to return to their homes. Implementation of the deal, however, has been a problem.
There is a myriad of armed forces in Shingal with various allegiances, including the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga, pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), and groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They gained footholds in Shingal after ousting ISIS.
Under the Shingal agreement, security is Baghdad's responsibility and the federal government was to establish a new armed force recruited from the local population and expel fighters from the PKK and their affiliated groups.
Shingali said that the biggest obstacle to projects in the region is “a lack of an administrative authority,” but said some steps have been taken by both Erbil and Baghdad to implement the Shingal agreement.
“Some points of the agreement have been implemented. For example, 500 police officers have been recruited and 500 more are in training,” he said.
According to Shingali, Sudani also decided to establish a university in Shingal and a piece of land has been allocated to build the campus that will include residential accommodation for staff and students.
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