The
United Nations top envoy to Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert highlighted the
plight of the Yazidi minority and called for urgent action to ensure security
and stability in Sinjar region in northern Iraq, a UN statement said.
Hennis-Plasschaert, special representative of the UN
secretary-general for Iraq, visited Sinjar for the fifth anniversary of the
massacres committed by ISIS militants against the Yazidi minority, a statement
by the UN Assistant Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said.
During her visit, Hennis-Plasschaert "highlighted the continuing
plight of the Yazidis and reiterated her call for urgent action to ensure
stable governance and security arrangements."
"It is high time that the survivors, whose bravery we
salute, be given the opportunity to return home and rebuild their lives in
safety and dignity," she said.
In August 2014, ISIS militants rampaged across Sinjar region and
killed thousands of Yazidi men, kidnapped and enslaved their women and
exploited their children by recruiting them into their ranks.
According to figures from the Yazidi International Organization
(Yazida), around 300,000 Yazidis remain displaced from their towns, while some
3,000 Yazidi women and children remain in ISIS captivity or are still missing.
It is estimated that there are around 500,000 Yazidis living in
Iraq, about 80 percent of whom live in the towns of Sinjar and Bashiqa in
Nineveh Province.