Netherlands and Belgium Genocide Recognition

This statement is also available as a PDF, click here.

Free Yezidi Foundation Statement

Belgium and Netherlands Parliaments Recognize Yezidi Genocide

The Free Yezidi Foundation and many organizations and activists have advocated for parliaments around the world to recognize the crimes committed by the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, Daesh) against the Yezidi population of Iraq as genocide. As a Netherlands-based charity, the Free Yezidi Foundation has focused a great deal of effort on the Benelux region.

On 30 June 2021, not long after testimony and evidence were presented to the Belgian Parliament, the Members of Belgium Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee officially recognized the Yezidi Genocide.

On 6 July 2021, the Netherlands Parliament House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) voted unanimously to recognize the Yezidi Genocide.

Belgium and the Netherlands now join a number of countries that have recognized the Yezidi Genocide. As both countries are signatories to the Genocide Convention, the Free Yezidi Foundation and other activists will urge application of the relevant articles, including the punishment of the perpetrators most responsible.

The Free Yezidi Foundation applauds those Members of Parliament from both countries who have brought forward the resolutions, now adopted, to recognize the Yezidi Genocide. Recognition is a necessary but not sufficient first step in addressing the worst of crimes. Much work remains to be done for the surviving community, and we continue to call upon the Netherlands, Belgium, and other countries to support the Yezidi community in recovery.

For press inquiries, write to: info@freeyezidi.org