Yazidis welcome promise of haven in Canada

1,200 ISIL SURVIVORS BEING ACCEPTED INTO COUNTRY

Canada’s promise to resettle hundreds of Yazidis by the end of the year is being welcomed in Iraq, where Yazidi women and girls have endured horrific abuse and persecution at the hands of ISIL.

Among those who have greeted the news with open arms is Saud Khalid, who was kidnapped by ISIL in August 2014 and sold as a sex slave three times before escaping after a year in captivity.

UN officials recently interviewed the 23-year-old about going to Canada and she’s hoping she and her young son will be among the 1,200 Yazidis and other ISIL survivors accepted by the Liberal government.

“We wish to go and live in Canada because here our situation is not good in general,” she said through a translator on Wednesday. “We live in bad conditions and we want to go.

“If they take me to Canada, I will never come back. And my hope is if my relatives still being held by ISIL, if they escape, I want them to also join me in Canada.”

The government’s plan has also been welcomed by Dr. Luma Alhanabadi, who runs Dohuk Girls and Women Treatment and Support Centre, which is partly funded by Canada.

Initially opposed to resettlement for fear survivors would face significant barriers abroad, Alhanabadi says she now supports the idea and recently submitted applications for 15 survivors to go to Canada.

Three others left for Canada this week.

Alhanabadi, whose centre offers gynecological services, counselling, therapy and legal services for about 900 ISIL survivors, said her change of heart on resettlement came after 210 survivors went to Germany.

There they were able to finally find peace despite the language differences and an unfamiliar culture.

The UN declared last year that the Yazidis were the victims of genocide after ISIL invaded their territory in northern Iraq in August 2014. Thousands of people were captured, with the men often killed and women sold into slavery.

Yazidi survivors are considered among the most vulnerable people in Iraq, which is why Canada and other countries are offering to take them in.

Many women have lost their husbands or families and are trying to provide for children while living in camps with limited services.

Gertrude Mubiru, head of the UN Population Fund office in Dohuk, said she was happy Canada was stepping up to help those in need.