Abducted by the Islamic State at 10, trafficked to Gaza: Fawzia's fight for Yazidi justice

Three years ago, a video emerged of a Yazidi woman in Gaza pleading for help on TikTok. She was wearing a niqab and speaking in her native tongue.

The idea of a Yazidi girl in the enclave was unfathomable, and the video was ignored. But a second attempt triggered an international operation to rescue her.

After spending 10 years in the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) captivity, Fawzia Amin Sido was finally reunited with her family.

"Freedom after years of captivity feels like something unrealistic," Fawzia Amin Sido tells The New Arab.

Fawzia is one of the thousands of Yazidi people who were taken from their homes in Shingal 12 years ago and were either sold into slavery, killed or forced to join the Islamic State group as child soldiers.

The survivor was only ten years old when Islamic State extremists raided her village, Gir Zarek. She and her family were sleeping on the roof to escape the heat when gunfire erupted around them.

Fawzia and her family fled to the mountains, keeping her younger brother close, but when IS came, they tore her away from his hand.

From there, Fawzia was repeatedly sold to different men, trafficked through Turkey, Egypt and finally to Gaza.

"To them, I was not a human being with feelings, dreams, or a family," Fawzia, who is now 18 years old, says.

"They tied me up, beat me, and raped me. They electrocuted me and treated me with severe cruelty. It was a life without freedom, without protection, and without dignity."

A forgotten genocide

In 2014, the extremists invaded several villages in Shingal in Iraq, which has a predominantly Yazidi population.

Once they were captured, they were put into centres and separated women from men, the young from the elderly.

Families were divided, men were massacred, and women, especially the younger ones, were sold off as enslaved people, while boys, particularly teenagers, were forced into becoming suicide bombers.

Fawzia recalls being forced to sleep while standing up. She had two children while in captivity.

"I was a lost girl," Fawzia says. "I did not feel like a human being; rather, I felt like a piece of property."

Despite the killings of the Yazidis being declared a genocide by the United Nations and several governments, including the US, UK, Germany and Iraq, little has been done by these bodies to act on their declarations to prevent and punish the genocide, which is a legal obligation under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

To address the failures of world leaders and deliver justice to the Yazidi people, a first-of-its-kind survivor-led Truth Commission was established in June to address the failure of international governments and organisations to deliver justice to Yazidi victims and survivors.

"If we ignore [the genocide convention], if governments ignore that, what do we have?" Raminder Kaur, a professor of Anthropology and International Development at the University of Manchester and a part of the Truth Commission's project team, tells The New Arab.

Having been a commissioner for the Uighur Tribunal in the early 2020s, Raminder wanted to address the "well overdue" justice for the Yazidi genocide.

While there have been a few court cases, largely in Germany, many of the proceedings have been on terrorism instead of genocide.

"We have people overlooking genocides even once they're declared," Raminder explains.

"I think it's about building momentum, getting governments to act, getting people more aware of these issues, and understanding why this genocide happened."

The professor also wanted to remind everyone that the genocide is still ongoing because the discrimination and hate are still present, noting that the Yazidi people are living in precarious situations, including their diaspora being threatened with deportation.

She warns that the acts could even lead to another genocide.

"If you ignore the perpetrators who are still out there, everywhere… it could happen again. There are past and future considerations here."

The professor explains how the Yazidi people used to be demonised and continue to be demonised to this day. Their beliefs were misinterpreted as Satan worship, creating a rationale that they could be captured.

"[Yazidi people] were seen in a certain way. They were seen as subhuman, and they could be, according to ISIS ideology, legitimately captured and become sex slaves," Raminder explains.

Despite having the likes of Amal Clooney and Nadia Murad advocating for justice for the Yazidi people, little justice has been delivered, with Raminder noting that the Yazidi people on their own are not powerful.

“[The Yazidi are] not rich. They don't have fingers in all these pies where they can have leverage in politics and other international bodies," the professor explains. "Because they are a minority in a minority in a minority, they have been ignored."

As a whole, the community numbers around a million, with the largest diaspora being in Germany and 300,000 in Iraq, either in camps or in homes, with the rest spread out across the world.

Justice delayed

Raminder also notes political bureaucracy as another factor, with issues like oil, international trade, and fears of upsetting local governments in the region helping eclipse the genocide.

While the professor would like to see more legal proceedings and for the Genocide Convention to be honoured, she also wants to see more awareness of the Yazidi people and for their religion and culture to be taught.

"We're talking about such a small group internationally, about a million, but they have their rights as well. They have their distinctive identity as well, and we need to appreciate that," Raminder says.

The Truth Commission will be convened in Germany in November, with survivors and experts sharing their testimonies.

At the same time, a landmark report containing concrete policy recommendations is designed to put pressure on governments to address the failure to deliver justice.

"I think bringing this legal, educational, public side together is really important, as they feed off each other," Raminder says.

"I think we just want to have more awareness about not only the crimes, but also the fact that these people are more than just victims; they're more than just survivors; they have all these talents, and we should be treating them in a multifaceted way."

Two years after her freedom, Fawzia is now sharing her story in hopes of helping find the thousands of Yazidi women and children who are still missing – many of whom have become adults today.

The fate of almost 2,700 women and children is unknown.

While Fawzia has gained humanitarian protection in Germany, she cannot travel to Iraq to see her family, unable to see her father before he passed.

"Being separated from my family weighs very heavily on me," she shares with The New Arab. 

Fawzia is hoping for family reunification in Germany for a chance at a shared life after years of suffering, loss and separation, constantly thinking of her family while in captivity.

"I tried to commit suicide several times; sometimes I thought that perhaps I could reach my family that way," Fawzia recalls.

"It was an internal struggle between life and giving up. But the memory of my family and my mother tongue gave me strength. It reminded me of who I am and where I came from."

The survivor is pleading with international organisations to consider the rights of abducted Yazidi women and also to recognise the reality of those separated because of the genocide.

"The protection of survivors must always include the possibility of reuniting families and granting them a shared future," Fawzia says.

"I hope for support, understanding, and practical steps so that families like mine do not remain permanently separated."

[Cover image: Artwork by Kheder H. Daham, Irkalla Bû and Irkalla's daughter Ghada]

Anam Alam is a staff writer at The New Arab. She frequently writes about human rights and social issues, including women's rights and sex education

Follow her on X: @itsanamalam