Dozens of ISIS Sex Slaves Will Find Shelter on the Gold Coast After a Journalist’s Extraordinary Journey
January 4, 2016 12:50pm
SPECIAL REPORT: Gold Coast Bulletin journalist Laura Nelson travelled to the Middle East to tell the story of victims abused by ISIS Soldiers.
After hearing her story, the Australian Government has vowed find dozens of young victims shelter on the Gold Coast.
THE GIRLS:
BEATEN, raped and dragged through “a river of blood” are some of the horrific experiences Yazidi children and teenagers – some as young as 11 – have suffered at the hands of ISIS captors in the Middle East.
A Yezidi teenager looks at the certificate she received after completing a counselling program in Northern Iraq run by Crisis Response International. The young woman escaped recently from Isis militants who beat and raped her. Photo: Laura Nelson.
They are being counselled by Lisa Jones, an American, Christian missionary and aid worker who is part of a program run by Crisis Response International (CRI) in Northern Iraq.
Ms Jones returns to the strife-torn region on January 6 and she made an urgent appeal to Gold Coasters and the Australian Government to help the traumatised Yazidis. The women are being counselled at a secret location near the sprawling Dohuk refugee camp.
Image: ISIS victims who will find shelter on the Gold Coast
“ISIS is a massive, fast-moving wave of evil and quite honestly, the region is not equipped with the necessary resources to deal with its aftermath,” she warned.
“We desperately need to help these Yazidi girls and to get more funding to set up another safe house for them. At the moment, there are about 500 girls and women on our waiting list.”
Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State in Sinjar town, walk towards the Syrian border.
Ms Jones said young women who had been through the CRI program had all been captured by ISIS but had managed to escape or were rescued.
They were kidnapped after the Sinjar massacre in August 2014, when 50,000 Yazidi people tried to flee ISIS.
“I remember watching TV footage of terrified Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar, scrambling to get on to helicopters which had flown in low to drop off food and water,” Ms Jones said.
“Tragically, the girls we’ve been counselling didn’t get away. In fact, some never even made it to the mountain.
“They told us that when ISIS took over their city of Sinjar, they saw them beheading elderly people and killing the men. They said ISIS even took children as slaves.
“Many of the Yazidis who were slaughtered are believed to be buried in mass graves, one of which was recently discovered when the Kurdish Government took back Sinjar.”
Thousands of Yezidis trapped in the Sinjar mountains as they tried to escape from Islamic State (IS) forces, are rescued by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Peoples Protection Unit (YPG) in Mosul, Iraq (Photo by Emrah Yorulmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The Yazidi girls told Ms Jones that during the siege, they were dragged through “a river of blood” to waiting trucks while gunshots went off around them.
“They were then moved in to local homes taken over by the extremists or sold as sex slaves to ISIS soldiers based in Iraq, Syria and Turkey,” she said. “A few thousand Yazidi girls are believed to be still trapped in horrific conditions in these three countries and others.
“The girls in our program were told that if they didn’t convert to Islam, they would be beaten and killed. Some of them were killed in front of other girls for not converting.”
While in Iraq, Ms Jones heard reports of the relentless brutality and rape of these young girls.
“I read of ISIS men thanking Allah for the opportunity to ‘put this dog in her place’ before they raped the Yazidi girls,” she said.
After months of horror – some of the girls managed to escape.
“When they eventually came to us from the Dohuk refugee camp, they were like empty shells and there seemed to be no life left in them. They would sit weeping and all we could do was sit with them.
“Eventually, they would begin to show signs of life, a smile would break through and we would all feel hope beginning to fill the house. These girls carry so much shame from the trauma they have had to endure. It’s very difficult for them to talk about it.”
Yezidis who fled their home due to the assaults of army groups led by Islamic State (IS), formerly known as ISIL, take shelter in the buildings under construction in Zakho district, a few kilometres from the Iraqi-Turkish border, Dohuk
Ms Jones said although she saw so many tears, she also witnessed tremendous self-control as the girls held back their pain, still trying to be strong.
“I think if they had actually let out all the pain bottled up inside them, it may have been too much for them to survive,” she said.
The Yazidis are one of the longest surviving people groups in the world who adhere to strict beliefs and traditions. They only marry within their clan and it is impossible to convert to their religion.
“Now, these girls have been defiled – and by Muslim extremists – so they carry such shame and feel hopeless about their futures,” Ms Jones said.
The team of five CRI volunteers in the safe house are from the US and Europe. They use classic trauma debriefing techniques which have been very effective.
“We discuss just some of the facts and tell the girls that it’s okay to feel anger and sadness. We teach them how to express their emotions in a healthy way,” Ms Jones said.
Other counselling techniques include group and art therapy through a project entitled, The Tree of Life. The girls shares the stories of their lives before ISIS came – of baking bread with their mums, hanging out with friends and making jewellery.
Ms Jones said she and other counsellors constantly affirmed the girls and encouraged them to hope for a better future.
“These girls feel guilty because their people have been killed or scattered and they survived. It’s called survivors’ guilt,” Ms Jones said.
ISIS victims who will find shelter on the Gold Coast
At the end of the 10-day program, the Yazidi teenagers must return to the Dohuk refugee camp to be with other people who are as traumatised as they are and are also displaced. Sadly, their futures still remain fraught with danger caused by the presence of ISIS.
The missionary said the Kurdish Government was doing what it could but it needed the help of the global community, including countries like Australia.
“This Kurdish Government is trying to fight the battle against ISIS and prevent even more of the scenarios we have seen with the Yazidi people. Yes, it has the support of allies, but it needs more,” Ms Jones said.
Sadly, the Kurdish Government was overwhelmed by the needs of the devastated region.
“Iraq is unstable and I believe the Kurdish Government is as vulnerable as anyone else in the region.”
She said funding for the safe house comes from individuals in America and other parts of the world, but more is desperately needed.
One can’t help but wonder what motivates the softly-spoken Ms Jones to go back to Iraq.
“The moment the opportunity came, I knew I had to go,” she said simply. “Years ago, I had heard of women in the Middle East who were being burnt with acid for refusing marriage proposals. I couldn’t believe the stories that were coming from that part of the world about horrific crimes against women.
“I couldn’t go then, so I asked God to send me one day to help women and girls in the Middle East. Finally, He did,” she said.
“Besides, these are little girls who have suffered such brutality. I have a granddaughter who is 14-years-old and I would like to think there are people in this world who would help her if something like this happened to her.”
Ms Jones is collecting money to buy small gifts, toiletries and other items for the Yazidi girls. If you can help, please visit criout.com.
AUSTRALIA’S RESPONSE:
DOZENS of girls, some as young as 11 and many of them used as sex slaves by radical Muslim ISIS soldiers in Iraq, may soon be starting new lives on the Gold Coast.
Veterans’ Affairs and Human Services Minister Stuart Robert
Fadden MP and Veterans’ Affairs and Human Services Minister Stuart Robert has vowed to make a special case to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to have the girls brought to the Coast as part of Australia’s promise to take 12,000 refugees from persecuted minorities in the war-torn region.
The Yazidi girls are now being housed in a camp in the Middle East after escaping their captors and are being counselled by Lisa Jones, an American Christian missionary and aid worker who is part of a program run by Crisis Response International in Northern Iraq.
Thousands of young Yazidis – some just 11 years of age – have been kidnapped, raped and brutalised by ISIS fighters in Iraq.
Many escaped and are now living in desperate conditions in the Dohuk refugee camp in the northern part of the country.
Some are being counselled at a secret location by volunteers from Crisis Response International, which has called on the Australian Government to help.
Mr Robert said he would take the girls’ case to Mr Dutton as a matter of urgency.
“The Australian Government has already resolved to take 12,000 refugees from persecuted minorities, which include the Yazidis and Christians in the Middle East,” Mr Robert said.
“These Yazidi girls and women that you have told me about absolutely qualify.
“They are the sort of persecuted minorities that we are looking to settle in Australia.
“We need their details so that we can get them out of the Middle East and to safety in Australia.
“I will be calling Mr Dutton on their behalf to appeal to him to give them refugee status.”
Mr Robert said the girls would all undergo medical and security checks.
Mr Robert has visited the Middle East 10 times and as the former Assistant Minister for Defence, he said he had helped organise an Australian Defence Force helicopter initiative to deliver emergency supplies of water and food in helicopters to Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar by ISIS in August, 2014.
He said he and the Australian Government had been tracking the Yazidi girls and their people very carefully since they were slaughtered in their tens of thousands by ISIS.
“I am urging the people of the Gold Coast to get behind the Government’s response to the refugee crisis in Syria and other parts of the Middle East,” he said.
“This decision to welcome 12,000 extra refugees to Australia is the result of genuine concern for the human tragedy and unprecedented displacement of people.
“It’s time for our nation to step up and offer assistance.
“We haven’t seen such a sheer volume of people movements since World War 2 and I have no doubt our local community will welcome refugees affected by these atrocities and give them generous support.”
The MP said the Government’s focus was on those most desperately in need.
“This means families, women and children and especially persecuted minorities, such as the Yazidi girls, who have taken refuge in camps in Syria and Iraq,” he said.
He said the Government would work closely with settlement services around the country to
make sure they could provide accommodation, language tuition and job assistance to the refugees.
THE JOURNALIST:
Reporter Laura Nelson and missionary Lisa Jones on their journey to help victims of ISIS.
I MET up with missionary and aid worker Lisa Jones in Los Angeles as she prepared to make another trip to northern Iraq to help the traumatised Yazidi girls.
I was spending some time in the US with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a Christian organisation that has been around for more than 50 years and has more than 1000 bases worldwide.
The pair were both captivated by the horrors of ISIS.
I have had a close friendship with Ms Jones for three years and she had told me on and off about her work with young women who had been captured and brutalised by ISIS fighters.
However, nothing prepared me for the horror that she spoke of during an in-depth interview.
The cruelty and perversion that these innocent, young women have endured at the hands of ISIS opened my eyes to what is happening right now in the Middle East.
I was deeply shocked and devastated at the hopelessness of their situation. After our gruelling interview, I struggled to speak and we both spent some time sitting on the floor weeping.
I can’t remember the last time I felt so much emotion during an interview and I was compelled to tell Ms Jones’ story about the Yazidi girls.
I also want to honour the bravery of women like Ms Jones, who are risking their lives to bring hope to those caught up in the horrific events unfolding in northern Iraq.
VICTIMS OF THE WAR:
IN August 2014, ISIS forces stormed in to the city of Sinjar in northern Irag and the lives of the Yazidi people were changed for ever.
The elderly and men were beheaded in front of their terrified families and Yazidi girls and women were kidnapped.
Emmanuel College student Jordan Harding the younger brother of Anti ISIS fighter Reece Harding achieved an OP1 result in this years HSC and hopes to go into medicine Pic by David Clark
Others managed to escape to Mount Sinjar, which was later surrounded by ISIS, and were taken captive.
The nightmare really began when the Yazidi girls and teenagers were forced to become sex slaves for ISIS fighters. They said they were forced to do unspeakable things and lived in constant terror of their captors.
The mastermind of the November 13th Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud is believed to have recruited his brother Younes, 13 to fight with ISIS.
For many, freedom came through disgruntled ISIS wives, who were jealous of the Yazidi girls. Many helped the sex slaves escape to get rid of them and they fled to the safety and squalor of nearby refugee camps.
Their only hope of emotional healing and sanity is to be counselled at a secret location by volunteers from Crisis Response International – the only program of its kind in the region.
Linked from 12/1/2016 Journal