NRW is the only federal state that no longer wants to deport Yazidi women and children to Iraq for three months. The state government issued a corresponding decree. The minority was exposed to considerable danger, it was said.
North Rhine-Westphalia was the first federal state to impose an immediate ban on deportations for Yazidi women and children. The basis is a decree from the responsible Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Flight and Integration, as several media reported. This prevents Yazidi women from being returned to their country of origin – Iraq.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s refugee minister, Josefine Paul, told “Spiegel” that the federal states were able to issue a deportation stop for a period of three months on their own initiative. This could then be extended once again, said the Green politician.
report about Forced prostitution and enslavement
“The reports about the situation for this group in northern Iraq are worrying,” Paul said. “According to the Federal Foreign Office’s assessment, the Iraqi government is not in a position to ensure the protection of religious minorities in many areas.” Yazidi women and children in particular are exposed to considerable danger in northern Iraq.
Forced prostitution, the recruitment of child soldiers and enslavement have repeatedly occurred in the settlement areas of Iraq. According to reports from human rights organizations, numerous women were abducted and sold by IS terrorists.
Escape Minister Paul: Faeser is inactive
Paul criticized the “Neuen Ruhr Zeitung / Neuen Rhein Zeitung” for the fact that Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faden has not yet imposed a nationwide deportation stop for Yazidis. She herself has advocated for this several times. “Unfortunately, Minister Faeser is not drawing any conclusions from the devastating human rights situation, especially for women and children, and is taking no action.”
Yazidis are a religious minority among the Kurds with several hundred thousand members. They live mainly in northern Iraq. However, many have fled from the IS terrorist militia. The Yazidi faith combines elements of various Middle Eastern religions, primarily Islam, but also Christianity.
Bundestag condemned the persecution of the Yazidis
In January, the German Bundestag recognized IS crimes against the Yazidis as genocide. All members and parties unanimously agreed to the resolution. According to research by the ARDmagazine monitor However, Yazidis have been increasingly deported again in recent months.
The background is apparently a closer cooperation between the federal government and Iraq in the area of migration, which was agreed in May. It is intended to make it easier to return asylum seekers from Iraq.