In the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, a group of young girls were occupied at a table with paint and paper this week as German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived at the Qadiya refugee camp located in the war-torn country of Iraq. They had drawings from their art therapy sessions displayed on a board nearby.
The images depicted memories of life under "Islamic State" (IS) authority, including women tied together, covered from head to toe in black clothing, and dead bodies lying on the ground. The camp, which is just 19 kilometres from the Turkish border, is home to more than 12,000 individuals, almost all of them are Yazidi refugees who were compelled to leave their homes in Iraq's Sinjar region after IS gained control in 2014 as reported by DW.
There were thousands of murders and kidnappings under IS authority. Numerous women, especially Yazidi women, were sold into slavery, raped, and coerced into giving birth to the offspring of IS combatants. Baerbock, Germany's first female foreign minister, was able to observe firsthand initiatives for women and children in the camp which are a part of German Aid aimed at alleviating their loss and suffering.
Terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) coerced women to give birth to IS fighters
The rest of her four-day tour through Iraq was framed by this stop. Baerbock tried not to overlook Iraqi women, like the Yazidi, who were some of the primary victims of militant terrorism and who are still waiting for justice. On the one hand, her attention was focused on major geopolitical and security challenges in which Iraq may potentially play a key role. Baerbock met with representatives of the Iraqi administration in the country's capital, Baghdad over 20 years after the start of the US-led invasion that started two decades of carnage within the country.
Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the new prime minister, is eager to demonstrate to the world that his government will not follow orders from Iran, whether they come from the Shiite political parties in Iraq or from its militias. Yet, Iraq continues to be Iran's top importer of goods, and Baghdad depends on Tehran for its gas and energy. Iran continues to have a significant impact on the oil-rich nation.
Baerbock denounced Iran's disregard for Iraqi sovereignty while speaking with her Iraqi counterpart, Fuad Hussein. According to Baerbock, the Iranian government "is apparently prepared to jeopardise lives and stability in the region [in order] to maintain power". This is totally unacceptable and risky for the entire region as reported by DW.
Iraq can serve as a model of stability: Baerbock
Baerbock thinks Iraq can serve as a model of stability for the rest of the region if it can maintain a stable environment free from undue influence from outside entities like Iran or Turkey.
With Baghdad, Berlin is still in good standing. Germany abstained from the 2003 attack that was ordered by then-US President George W. Bush on the grounds that Saddam Hussein's government had unlawfully obtained WMDs. Weapons were never discovered. And now, 20 years later, the Bundeswehr, the German Army, is educating the Kurdish security forces in Irbil to combat any lingering IS sleeper cells.
Baerbock also wanted to bring attention to the ongoing plight of victims of IS rule with her visit to the Qadiya refugee camp and a high-level security visit to the Sinjar district, which was once one of the most heavily populated Yazidi areas and the scene of some of IS' most terrible acts.
Baerbock claimed that the world had failed to stop the militant organisation from perpetrating genocide against the Yazidis after interacting with the women and girls who had survived the IS at the Qadiya camp. The global community "has an even greater responsibility to bring these criminals to justice," she continued.
"Yes, this is a painstaking process, but if there is no justice, then there is no chance of healing, then there is no chance of reconciliation, and then there is no chance of a future," she said as reported by DW.
The offenders will be brought to justice, whether that is domestically in Iraq or internationally, according to Baerbock. The Yazidi diaspora in Germany, which numbers over 150,000, is thought to be the largest in the world. Germany is one of the few nations to have prosecuted IS militants.
For the first time ever, a German court found an Iraqi terrorist guilty of genocide against the Yazidi in November 2021. A German lady was on trial in Koblenz in January for allegedly "enslaving" a Yazidi woman while working with the IS in Syria to commit war crimes and genocide.
Iraq is the fifth-most severely impacted country in the world by climate change
According to the UN, Iraq is the fifth-most severely impacted country in the world by climate change, with desertification, a decline in precipitation, and an increase in temperatures being the main issues.
Yet Iraq is also one of the biggest oil producers in the world. It contributes significantly to climate change because its economy is majorly reliant on the production of oil and gas.
As the foreign minister, Baerbock, who is a member of the Green Party, has made it a point to concentrate on halting climate change. And this journey was no exception. Baerbock highlighted how the effects of climate change can also heighten security issues when she spoke with locals who reside along the reed and cattail-lined canals of the marshes in southern Iraq, whose livelihoods are in jeopardy due to falling water levels.
"The climate crisis is exacerbating existing conflicts," said Baerbock. "It is not only one of the greatest environmental crises, one of the greatest crises for people's livelihoods, but it is also the greatest threat to regional tension, to global security," as reported by DW.