The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) released a report estimating the slave population of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) in Iraq at 3,500.
“UNAMI/OHCHR [Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights] continues to believe that the number of people currently being held in slavery by ISIL numbers approximately 3,500,” the information in the report, gathered between May 1 and October 31, 2015, states.
“Those being held are predominately women and children and come primarily from the Yezidi community, but a number are also from other ethnic and religious minority communities.”
The Islamic State has targeted Yazidis as they spread their Caliphate across northern Iraq. The terrorist group considers the Yazidis, a religious minority, devil worshippers. As militants stormed through Yazidi areas, they demand Yazidis convert to Islam or die. Iraq Human Rights Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has claimed the militants have buried over 500 Yazidis alive in Sinjar.
Kurdish forces managed to retake the town in November 2015. The liberators found one grave filled with 78 elderly women and another with at least 50 people.
Last August, over 50 Yazidis attended a demonstration outside the UN building in Erbil, Iraq, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. They demanded action against the Islamic State to help free the numerous females the terrorist group still held.
“We demand the liberation of Yezidi women and girls who are still in captivity of the terrorist organization of ISIS,” exclaimed one protester.
Another rally took place in Sulaymaniyah, which is 124 miles southeast of Erbil. Local human rights activists joined hundreds of Yazidis to remember those lost in Sinjar.
“The international community hasn’t taken any action to protect Yezidis from IS terrorists,” one person declared.
Yazidi activists released a video showing the Islamic State tearing families apart and abducting girls and women to be their sex slaves.
The Yazidis huddle together before the terrorists rip them apart. Women and girls scream while the men attempt to hold onto the women.
Sky News published a video of the underground dungeons ISIS used to keeps its slaves, most of them Yazidis.
In May, the Islamic State captured Ramadi, taking in weapons and armored vehicles left behind by fleeing Iraqi officials. After many fights, the U.S.-led coalition liberated the city, but citizens recounted the terror they lived under with Islamic State. The terrorist group kidnapped some before forces came.
“My mother is captured by ISIS,” cries one woman on camera. “Please tell me where my mother is.”
As she wept, the woman begged the Rudaw crew to take her to her mother.
“I just want my mother,” she continued, after she regained her composure. “Dozens of people are still seized. We even didn’t have water to drink.”
The Yazidi women who do escape tell their stories to the world.
“They took young girls, seven, nine and 10 years old,” explained Aveen, 23, to NBC News in early December. ISIS held her for almost a year before she escaped.
The guards held the women and children at a school, separate from the men. At night, those same guards raped the women.
“Some [women] are sold for weapons, or for just $10, or 10 cigarettes,” said activist Khider Domle, who interviewed numerous Yazidis.
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