1. The document discusses the use of sexual and gender-based violence against Yazidi women in Iraq after the US invasion, particularly by ISIS. 2. ISIS targeted Yazidi women, identifying them as "sabaya" or war prizes, and subjected them to rape, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancy. Survivors then faced stigma in their communities. 3. The document analyzes interviews with Yazidi women survivors who recount their experiences with kidnapping, witnessing family slaughter, slavery, and torture at the hands of ISIS. Survivors now suffer from trauma and lack of support in refugee camps.

1. Yazidi Women’s voices about the use of Sexual Gender–Based
Violence Post US invasion
Suha Hassen
MA Student, WGSS, Oregon
State University

2. INTRODUCTION:
1. Following the US invasion of Iraq, sexual violence has been
used as a weapon to traumatize and destroy communities
2. The fall of regime was coupled with a disintegration of the
Iraqi army, which consequently led to the spread of arms
among civilians
3. Various forms of Sexual violence spread widely in most parts of
the country affecting the vulnerable population of women
4. In the north of Iraq, particularly in Nineveh, ISIS has used rape
as a tool of domination, genocide, and ethnic cleansing against
a small conservative ethnoreligious group.

3. 1. Yazidi women were raped by ISIS emirs and sold for sex.
2. They were identified by ISIS as Sabaya (war prizes)
3. Lost their honor (virginity)
4. Probably got pregnant during their ordeal
5. These women are then ostracized by their community if
they ever escape enslavement
6. These women will have to live with children that will ever
remind them of their ordeals: their own rape, and slaughter
of their families.

4. This research:
1. Documents the lived experiences of Yazidi women and
investigates Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) used as
tools of genocide by ISIS.
2. Intersecting factors of religion, race, and ethnicity
contribute to the acts of genocide (through SGBV) against
Yazidi women.

5. Methodology:
1. I will approach this issue
through personal stories
that I obtained from
interviewees through my
colleague Daoud Al-
Khatari, an activist and
lecturer in Mosul university
(northern Iraq)
2. The data will be analyzed
through using theory of
flesh for Moraga.

6. An ISIS survived girl, Naima Ali
recounts her story with ISIS:
Naima suffered and witnessed:
1. Kidnapping
2. Slaughtering of Her Family
Slavery
3. Her Friend Attempting Suicided
4. Torture and humiliation
Needless to say, all these were
committed by ISIS!

7. Currently, Naima and
other survivors live in
refugee camp tents and
suffer from:
 Complex mental health
needs resulting from
posttraumatic stress
and rape trauma.
 The lack of support
systems and services
(psychological, social,
and financial)

8. • Women from minorities, such as Yazidi, are subjected to violence
more than any other women in the community because of
intersecting identities, ethnicity and religion, marking them as
different.
• Presently, international community’s policies in handling these
crises are not supportive. In addition, such policies make it
difficult for the general Yazidi refugees to seek asylum–rape
victims included–even though the crises they have faced merit

9. Conclusion:
1. SGBV against Iraqi women reached the peak level
after the US invasion in 2003.
2. SGBV is also used as tool of heteropatriarchy, ethnic
cleansing, genocide, and rape of the land.