Reparations for IS atrocities in Iraq: Placing survivors front and center!

We want to ensure that justice for the survivors of IS atrocities in Iraq is delivered through comprehensive reparations. Furthermore, we strive for survivor-centered criminal trials against the alleged IS perpetrators. 

For us, survivors' participation and co-creation is the core aspect of this project. To support their participation, it is imperative to fairly remunerate survivors not only by covering their travel and accommodation costs but also recompensing them for the time they spent working.  

To achieve these goals, we are at the forefront of a network of Iraqi NGOs – the Coalition for Just Reparations, (C4JR). With the coalition, we are encouraging Iraqi authorities to not only discharge their obligation to provide reparations, but also implement it in a survivor-centered manner. 

It is particularly important to us not to replace survivors’ voices, but empower them to speak for themselves by ensuring a “seat at the table”, amplifying and echoing their messages. This gives them the opportunity to retain control over their stories and co-create the agreements and laws for their reparation. 

The survivors we predominately work with, in the context of the IS conflict in Iraq, are harmed Yazidi, Turkmen, Christian, and Shabak women and girls and abused Yazidi boys. Despite this diverse target group, the law for reparations is called the "Yazidi (Female) Survivors Law" (YSL). 

As a first step, the new law (YSL) was passed establishing an administrative reparation programme aimed at giving effect to survivors’ right to reparation. We worked on this law as a coalition and ensured that the needs of survivors play a central role. 

As a next step, we are currently focusing on making sure that the law does not remain on paper only, but that the services actually reach those entitled to them, and that they can be accessed easily, in a survivor-centered way.