I call upon our American allies to ensure the collective and personal security of the Yazidis

France has a responsibility towards the Yazidi people so that survivors are not left to defend their cause on their own

[Beginning of speech]

I have the honor of closing our special session on the Yazidi Genocide today at the Palace of Luxembourg with some final thoughts, beginning with thanking our colleagues, partners, and friends who joined us on this podium and in this hall today.

I have immense gratitude to my Yazidi sisters, Manal, Shireen, and Nasrin who have so bravely come forward with a courage, wisdom, and capacity for healing and action that is inspiring and truly superhuman. My biggest wish for you is that you not only personally see your days in court – which I know I can assure you, I will always support you to that day – and that you see your demands and needs being fully met. But that you also get to heal fully and on your own terms, and that one day, you and the world around you will no longer identify as survivors of the genocide, but as very happy and very fulfilled human beings. And that is my greatest wish for all of you.

I must also express my utmost thanks to Natia, a Yazidi sister, mentee, and incredible partner who has never failed to inspire me, and all of us, with her relentless leadership, expertise, and humanity. Your tenacity in international human rights law and your ability to transcend all challenges with the heart of both a Yazidi woman and a global citizen is quite the standard that all of us should reach.

As a member of a very small minority community of Armenian Catholics in the Middle East, and as an Arab and Armenian woman, I am born of generations of family members who have suffered crimes of genocide, crimes of war, and crimes against humanity. We began to work with Yazda and the Yazidi people exactly nine years ago this month, and on behalf of the ZPO and my family, I can assure you that we will continue to do so, holding space for you to lead and amplify your voices and demands, while calling upon our friends in the international community to truly step up in collective action with the highest standards for humanity and survivors of genocide.

I would like to take this moment to thank Senator Nathalie Goulet for making sure that today happened despite all the other priorities in the world and in France in what I know is a difficult and very challenging time for so many. As we assured each other when we first met in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, this session is not lip service; it is an authentic commitment to bringing together allies and building a bigger and a better team for all Yazidis and all those who suffered, and continue to suffer under Da’esh, and inaction. I sincerely look forward to seeing your draft resolution that fully recognizes the Yazidi Genocide inked under French law, ratified by all your colleagues at the Senate and the National Assembly.

I must also thank the French Ambassador to Iraq Mr. Patrick Durel and the General Councilor in Erbil Mr. Yann Braem. It is because of you that our Yazidi survivors are here with us today.

On August 3, it will be ten years since this genocide began. The world we live in today teaches us that the only way to uphold the spirit and the full force of every convention and every law is to do so together and to never give up. You saw today that the Yazidi women on this floor will not give up, despite all the inactions and all the ongoing injustices facing them and their people. So please, join me in honoring that perseverance and drawing strength from it. Please heed to their words as humble students of teachers who have endured some of the harshest suffering that the world has ever seen. They, and only they, hold the roadmap and are clearly guiding all of us along the way. All roads towards justice will lead to safety and peace for all the Yazidis and all the historic communities of Sinjar, Shingal.

Let us go from a handful of court cases to thousands, thousands of court cases, one for every survivor. Justice has many faces, and you have some of these faces in front of you today. Justice should not fail because of the lack of will, because of limited due processes, because of lack of funding, because of insufficient institutional capacity. Let us go from deprioritized community programs that meet some needs that we heard of today, to a full ecosystem of support, services, and solidarity for all Yazidis to have access to them and for all Yazidis to trust that they can count on them. And that is what is needed so that we may go through and achieve personal and collective healing journeys, and so that we may return home to Shingal, and so that we may rebuild our lives.

Every time I go to Iraq and Kurdistan, and the last time when I had the opportunity to meet Baba Sheikh, I told him that I only know how to say “we,” “us,” and “our” when it comes to speaking up for my Yazidi friends. And I had the utmost, humblest privilege of learning from him that for so many, I am Yazidi, and I thank you for this adoption, because I truly believe and feel like one.

I would like that we pass the power that we hold today in this great hall at le Palais de Luxembourg, and we take this power forward to the camps, we take this power forward back to Shingal, to every woman, every child, and every family, and see what happens when the power leaves this hall and goes on the ground to the people who continue to suffer.

France and friends, you have an undeniable responsibility towards the survivors you have heard today and the victims, families, and the community they represent who are not here in this room today. Please understand that your voices and actions can and will make a difference. Do not leave our survivors to fight their fight alone, because now it is our fight. It is “us,” “we,” and “our.” We also know, because this world, this history has taught us that when we do not fight all together, we participate in silencing genocide, and a silent genocide is where all perpetrators win, and under our watch we will never, ever let that happen again. The Yazidis of Shingal will not survive in their historic homeland if we continue our current course of little action and too much inaction. They – you all – deserve so much more, and together, I know that we can become citizens of an incredible team, and see to it that every one of your demands and desires are achieved.

I thank you, and with that, I call our session to a close. Thank you, merci beaucoup, shukran jazilan.

[End of speech]

Closing keynote

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