Yazidi Legal Network

Early 2019, Yazidi Legal Network was established by the Nuhanovic Foundation, centre for War Reparations, in response to the request of a group of victims and witnesses based in the Netherlands to assist them achieving justice in the form of three pillars, namely accountability, recognition and reparation. Since its creation, the Yazidi Legal Network program has evolved and grown extensively and as a result, in early 2021 the Foundation Yazidi Legal Network was formally established with its headquarters in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Mission

It is the mission of Yazidi Legal Network to help the Yazidi achieve justice in the widest sense possible regarding the genocide that was committed against them at the hands of ISIS in 2014. The focus of Yazidi Legal Network is on the jurisdiction of the Netherlands. However, we closely work together with Yazidi communities and organisations in Germany, France, Iraq and other countries.

We aim to achieve justice for the Yazidi by focussing on three pillars of justice that correspond with above identified problems, namely:

-       Accountability

-       Recognition

-       Reparation

Vision

It is the vision of Yazidi Legal Network to be the bridge between the Yazidi community and regional, national and international actors that can provide for the needs of the Yazidi community in the Netherlands and beyond.

Accountability

By linking judicial authorities and organisations documenting evidence at the scenes of the crimes in Iraq and Syria and providing them with information stemming from our databases and own research, we aim to fill the gap between international justice efforts and documentation efforts in Iraq and Syria that are causing the current lack of accountability.

Recognition

Through our projects under the second pillar of justice - recognition - we provide a safe platform for community members, experts, lawyers, and academics. This enables sharing of information, development of initiatives, the establishment of relationships and the provision of support and direction. Yazidi Legal Network thereby aims to empower and facilitate the Yazidi community to have direct access to a range of actors relevant to their pursuit of justice.

Reparation

By serving as an intermediate between the Yazidi community and actors capable of providing psychosocial support, we close the gap between those two groups, thereby facilitating access to reparations for the Yazidi community.