The first family of Yazidis from Iraq has arrived in Germany's Brandenburg state under its new scheme that allows Yazidis fleeing violence and the threat of the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS or ISIL, banned in Russia) to find shelter in Europe, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2019) The first family of Yazidis from Iraq has arrived in Germany's Brandenburg state under its new scheme that allows Yazidis fleeing violence and the threat of the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS or ISIL, banned in Russia) to find shelter in Europe, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday."A family of eight Yazidis arrived in Berlin on Wednesday (14/08), in the latest effort by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to assist vulnerable Yazidis with their admission to Europe. Their arrival was made possible through the German Federal State of Brandenburg's new regional Humanitarian Admission Programme (HAP)," the UN migration organization said.
The family members were accompanied by IOM staff all the way from their home city of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, to Berlin, from where they are set to travel to their accommodation in Brandenburg, the statement added.
"It is crucial that we continue to assist this vulnerable group, who have suffered immeasurably at the hands of ISIL," said IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Gerard Waite as quoted in the statement.
The organization said it had assisted a total of 1,327 Yazidis that were granted humanitarian admission to travel to European countries since 2015. Throughout 2015-2016, Germany alone accommodated over 1,000 Yazidi women, including the 2018 Nobel Peace prize winner Nadia Murad, while 130 others found refuge in France under its own HAP, the IOM added.
According to the statement, assistance includes the processing of visa documents, pre-departure orientation sessions and health assessments. The HAP expects 71 Yazidis from Iraq to be accommodated in Europe by the end of 2019.
In 2014, IS terrorists launched a campaign of systematic violence against the Yazidi population, an ethnic Kurdish minority of Iraq, Syria and Turkey. According to the United Nations, an approximate 3,000 Yazidis were killed and 6,000 others abducted, with women and girls contrived into slavery and forced marriage with terrorists.
