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

[Beginning of speech]

Thank you so much Nadine and thank you to my friends who are on stage, Natia, Murad, and Pari. Thank you very much to Representative Wolf and Merissa and the Wilson Center team for having us. I join you from Beirut. I would have loved to be with you in Washington, and I would like to share some closing remarks to really amplify the critical messages, the indispensable messages, that our Yazidi friends have shared with us today.

I'd like to begin by making very clear that everything that we have heard teaches us that Sinjar is still a conflict zone; it is still unsafe. There is tremendous uncertainty. There is no clear plan, budget, and will. And so, what could a future look like when none of the basic elements that any, any human race, civilization, and community deserves is not on the table?

The ailments that we bring to all of our U.S. stakeholders today is that with the very few steps that have been taken for Sinjar, the Yazidis are not being included in the decisions that are being taken on their lives and on their future. Decisions are being made for the people that you see in front of you on stage today. They have no voice. We are asking for agency, and we are asking for the U.S. government to make it a priority to make that happen, and voice that necessity to the Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional governments because we know how close those three governments are together. That is the ask on the table today.

We are asking for agency, and we are asking for the U.S. government to make it a priority to make that happen, and voice that necessity to the Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional governments because we know how close those three governments are together.

- Lynn Zovighian — Founder, Zovighian Public Office

You have heard today tremendous frustration and disappointment. I would like to contextualize what that means for our three Yazidi friends on stage today, because in just four days, they are going to be taken back in time, to the first day of yet another genocide against their people. I would like to make clear that although these three leaders are so collected, and so eloquent, they are hurting. And they are being triggered and re-triggered with trauma and anger, and are having to respond to hate crimes, having to respond to insult, and having to still show up on this stage and on other stages globally without taking offense, with still being able to keep it together. I want to just remark how extraordinary that effort is; it is superhuman.

We are clearly asking for far too much. And I can only imagine what our 2,600 women and girls and boys who are still enslaved, who are still in re-education camps, who are still being held by Da'esh militants – what life is like for them every single day.

It is important to remember that Da'esh is not over.

So what we are modeling here is what inclusion and what dialogue looks like. We need this in Baghdad and we need this in Erbil. But we are asking Washington D.C. to help make that possible.

- Lynn Zovighian — Founder, Zovighian Public Office

So what we are modeling here is what inclusion and what dialogue looks like. We need this in Baghdad and we need this in Erbil. But we are asking Washington D.C. to help make that possible. And we cannot continue without the United States really stepping up for us, and most importantly, with us, because that is what we are asking; we are saying to do it hand-in-hand with the Yazidi people, especially, for example, the three leaders on stage here today.

I need to also put an important reminder on the table because we have heard some very big statements and I need to make very clear that I have another ask, which is the personal security of our speakers, because they need to safely speak, and we all in the world need to comprehensively learn. When any of them fly back into Baghdad or Erbil, they need to be able to do so safely. We should not hear of any arbitrary arrests, harassment, bullying, and certainly no hate speech or any violent crime being committed against these Yazidi leaders and any other Yazidi that has the courage, and still the stamina, to speak up. And so I ask that our American allies in the room also make sure that while we are here to speak about the collective security – the collective safety, the collective safe representation of the community, and the collective path towards justice – that we also ensure the personal security of our three friends on stage here today.

And I would like to end by saying thank you, thank you for holding space. Thank you for modeling what dialogue and what eloquent and professional and technical representations and discussion looks like. Because that ask is not an unreasonable ask to be making, it is the human ask that is a right for every Yazidi, survivor, community member, and leader to be making today. I thank you, and I yield the floor.

[End of speech]

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About the Zovighian Public Office

The Zovighian Public Office (ZPO) was established in 2015 to serve communities facing crises and crimes of atrocity. We are dedicated to amplifying their voices through research, advocacy, and diplomacy. We are deeply committed to justice and accountability for the Yazidis of Sinjar in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

www.zovighian.org