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One year after ISIL bloodshed Iraq’s Yazidis still suffering

It is one-year to the day that ISIL militants attacked Iraq’s Yazidi minority in Sinjar Province. The violence prompted 40,000 Yazidi to seek sanctuary on Mount Sinjar without food or water. A year ago today #daesh attacked #sinjar, enslaving 1000s of #Ezidi #women & girls. 2day, over 3000 are still missing pic.twitter.com/UkS3vEDHfd— AMAR Foundation (@AMARLondon) August 3, 2015 Hundreds of men were killed and thousands kidnapped. Women and girls as young as ten were sold into sex slavery and forced marriage. On Monday, take a moment to remember that a year ago ISIS attacked #Sinjar enslaving #Ezidi females &killing males. pic.twitter.com/Lr1txbqons— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) August 2, 2015 To mark the anniversary members of the Yazidi community staged a demonstration in the Iraqi city of Erbil. Many Yazidi are still suffering under the ISIL yoke, as Awaz Khalil explains: “We are here to ask for the protection for Yazidi refugees. They are a minority, they need protection to be safe from the terror of ISIL, especially our women who are still in captivity and are being badly treated.” In the Kurdish north, Peshmerga forces are fighting to secure the region from ISIL attack. The Kurdish government is under pressure to care for the 300,000 displaced Yazidi as well as 250,000 refuges fleeing the fighting in Syria. Today, those who survived are living scattered across the region in extremely vulnerable conditions. #Ezidi #Sinjar pic.twitter.com/4tKNRotNpf— AMAR Foundation (@AMARLondon) August 3, 2015 In total 3.1 million Iraqis are now internally displaced as a result of ISIL violence.