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What's happened to Iraq's Yazidis?

The ancient Iraqi community still can't go home years after fleeing the terror of the Islamic State group

In 2014, militants of the Islamic State group set out to destroy the ancient, minority Yazidi community of northern Iraq. Thousands were murdered, thousands of Yazidi women and children were enslaved and brutalised. Since the defeat of IS in 2017, the traumatized community has tried to recover. And yet, as Rachel Wright reports, more than 100,000 Yazidis remain stuck in camps, unable to return to their homes.

Photo: Bahar, a Yazidi survivor, holds a picture of her missing husband and son. She and her family were captured by Islamic State in 2014. (BBC)

Presenter: Rachel Wright
Producer: Alex Last
Sound Mix: Neva Missirian
Production Coordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross
Series Editor: Penny Murphy

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27 minutes

Last on

Sun 9 Jul 202311:32GMT
BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

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  • Thu 6 Jul 202301:32GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Thu 6 Jul 202308:32GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Thu 6 Jul 202312:32GMT
    BBC World Service South Asia & East Asia only
  • Thu 6 Jul 202319:06GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
  • Sun 9 Jul 202311:32GMT
    BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

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