Iraq: Families Urge Action on Sinjar’s Missing 11 Years After ISIS Attack

Iraq: Families Urge Action on Sinjar’s Missing 11 Years After ISIS Attack
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On the 11th anniversary of the ISIS assault on Sinjar, families of the missing and survivors of the 2014 atrocities have renewed urgent appeals to the international community, humanitarian organizations, and the governments of Baghdad and Erbil to intensify efforts to uncover the fate of thousands of abducted individuals, many of whom remain unaccounted for.

Despite the passage of more than a decade, over 2,500 people — primarily women and children from the Yazidi community — are still missing. Their families continue to endure the anguish of uncertainty, living in difficult conditions in displacement camps where access to basic services remains limited.

Officials overseeing the missing persons files confirmed that operations to locate and rescue survivors are ongoing. While thousands of captives have been freed over the years, the whereabouts of many others remain unknown.

Tens of thousands of Sinjar residents continue to live in camps, facing social and economic hardships. Aid workers and local authorities cite ongoing security concerns, lack of infrastructure, and political complications as major barriers to the safe and dignified return of displaced families.

The Sinjar tragedy remains one of the most harrowing chapters of ISIS’s campaign of violence in Iraq, prompting calls for greater accountability, long-term support for survivors, and a comprehensive strategy to close the chapter on the region’s missing.