by Clarion
Although thousands have fled ISIS persecution, only 10 families have
been allowed into the US and none of those because of ISIS persecution.
Yazidi refugees in Turkey demonstrate for asylum ahead of a visit by UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie. (Photo: © Reuters)
Despite the thousands of Yazidis who have been displaced by the Islamic State, only 10 Yazidi families have received asylum in the United States.
Those in America have entered on visas connected to a program for
translators who served with American forces during the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars, according to Yazda, a Yazidi rights organization based in America. “None of these families [in U.S.] are related to the crisis” Abid Shamden, who works with Yazda, told Fox News.
“But many are still there” he added. “They are not given any special
status. They are all treated as the same. My family has been waiting
since 2012 for visas.”
There are an estimated 700,000 Yazidis in the world. Yazidis follow
of a unique and ancient faith indigenous to the Middle East. Their
religion is a unique blend of Persian Zoroastrianism with influences
from Christianity and Islam. They worship Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel,
which has led to accusations of devil worship.
Last year, an estimated 40,000 Yazidis were trapped on Mount Sinjar
in Iraq without food or water, encircled by Islamic State forces. Many
were later rescued after a U.S. bombing campaign, but not before several
thousand died.
Around 350,000 Yazidis fled to Iraqi Kurdistan
and around 14,000 live in refugee camps in Turkey. Tracking the precise
numbers and whereabouts of the refugees is very difficult because of
both the scale of the problem and the chaos in the region.
Rev. Majed el-Shafie, the founder of One Free World International,
recently returned from a trip to Iraq and spoke with the Clarion
Project. El-Shafie interviewed many Yazidi girls who have escaped from sex-slavery in the Islamic State.
He
demanded that the U.S. and other countries, including Canada, take in
more Yazidi refugees. His organization was involved in the rescue of
Yazidi girls through ransoming them from their captors. He stressed that
these girls should be “top priority” for asylum.
Frank Wolf, a senior fellow at 21st Century Wilberforce, a non-profit that works to protect religious minorities in the Middle East told Fox, “What we are seeing, in real time, is genocide.”
Clarion
Source: http://www.clarionproject.org/news/no-asylum-yazidis-fleeing-isis-america
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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