The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant uses sexual slavery and forced marriage as weapons of war against women and girls from Iraq's Ezidi religious minority, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
The London-based rights group said hundreds and possibly thousands of Ezidi women and girls have been forcibly married, sold or given as “gifts” to ISIL fighters in Iraq and Syria.
“Hundreds of Ezidi women and girls have had their lives shattered by the horrors of sexual violence and sexual slavery in ISIL captivity,” Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s senior crisis response advisor, said. “Many of those held as sexual slaves are children girls aged 14, 15 or even younger. ISIL fighters are using rape as a weapon in attacks amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Amnesty said these females are among thousands of Ezidis from northwest Iraq who have been attacked since August by ISIL militants.
Some women and girls who do not have the chance to flee to a safer region commit suicide.
Jilan, 19, killed herself while being held captive in Mosul because she feared she would be raped, her brother told Amnesty International.
“One day, we were given clothes that looked like dance costumes and were told to bathe and wear those clothes. Jilan killed herself in the bathroom," another victim held in the same room as Jilan and 20 others, including two girls aged 10 and 12, said. "She cut her wrist and hanged herself. She was very beautiful."
At least 30,000 Ezidis fled to
safety in Turkey in September, while others took refuge in neighboring
countries to escape ISIL's brutality.
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