Yazidi leaders to allow Isis rape survivors to return with children

Martin Chulov - The Guardian

"Yazidi survivors groups have embraced a decision by the community’s elders to allow children who are the result of rape by members of Islamic State to return with their Yazidi mothers to their homelands in Iraq," says this article from the Guardian. Before this decision was made, women who had children as the result of rape by members of the terrorist group and who did not want to be separated from their children were exiled by the community, often forced into detention camps in Syria and not permitted to return to their homes in Iraq. Many women who chose to return to their families placed their children in orphanages, while others were handed over to other families through informal adoptions. 

“'Yazidi women who were taken captive by Isis fighters who later gave birth to children from rape have told me how painful it was for them to give their children to orphanages or to the fighters’ families before they were able to return home to their community,' said Belkis Wille, senior Iraq researcher for Human Rights Watch. 'They felt pressured to do so because they feared their children born through rape were not welcome back home. This declaration was long needed.'”