Yazidi and Arab women to fight together against femicide

A workshop of the Free Yazidi Women’s Movement (TAJÊ) took place in Shengal last weekend. Yazidi and Arab women from Iraq took part in the event in the village of Til Izir. Many participants travelled from Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk and other places to the main Yazidi settlement area of Shengal in northern Iraq (southern Kurdistan) to discuss cooperation in the fight against femicide and massacres. The symposium was a first for the women’s movement in the region, which is under constant attack from Turkey and where the wounds of the genocide and femicide committed by ISIS in 2014 can still be felt everywhere.  

The Yazidi Women’s Movement published the final declaration of the event on Friday and said: “The TAJÊ was founded after the genocide of 3 August 2014 perpetrated by ISIS. Yazidi women were the most affected by the ISIS genocide because they were unorganised. TAJÊ is campaigning everywhere for this mass slaughter to be recognised worldwide as genocide and femicide. To ensure that this massacre is not repeated, Yazidi women are organising under the TAJÊ umbrella and working with other women’s organisations.”

The decisions made at the workshop held by Yazidi and Arab women under TAJÊ’s leadership are as follows:

Yazidi, Arab and Iraqi women from all circles will fight together for the freedom and protection of women.

A preparatory committee has been formed for the organization of another meeting by Yazidi and Arab women in Baghdad.

Joint work will be conducted for the recognition of femicide and for a stronger organization and unity of women.

A joint struggle will be waged for violence against women to be stopped and the male-dominant mindset to be eliminated.