ISIS Forced Yezidi Women Into Marriages

ISIS has reportedly forced Yezidi women to marry its militant fighters, systematically separating women and girls from their families. ISIS has detained hundreds, if not thousands, of Yezidi men, women, and children from Iraq and forced them into makeshift facilities in Iraq and Syria. Dozens of their family members and 16 of the women who managed to escape ISIS detention attested to the forced marriages, according to Human Rights Watch. Four of the 16 girls interviewed said they fought off violent sexual attacks and said other women told them they were raped. One of the girls saw an ISIS fighter buying a Yezidi woman for $1,000. “I saw them take all of them, about 10 young women and girls [on different days]. Some were as young as 12 or 13, and up to age 20. Some they had to pull away with force,” said Naveen, a woman who witnessed ISIS taking Yezidi women as brides. Boys have also been taken away from their families and forced to convert to Islam. Boys as young as eight were sent to ISIS training camps. "The older brothers of those boys became so scared," said Khinder, a 28-year-old man who escaped ISIS detention. "They [Islamic State fighters] said, 'Don’t worry, we will feed and take care of them. We will take them to a base to teach the Quran, how to fight, and how to be jihadis.'"