“For They Are Merely Property”

Abstract

On 3 August 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched an attack on the area of Sinjar in Northern Iraq. With Sinjar being home to thousands of Yazidis, the attack by the Islamic State marked the beginning of a genocidal campaign against the ethno-religious group. The Islamic State engineered a series of lethal and non-lethal acts of genocide that sought to maximize the destruction of the Yazidi community. Across Sinjar, the Islamic State killed Yazidi men and captured Yazidi women, forcing them into sexual slavery. While the gendered nature of the Yazidi genocide has caught the attention of scholars, the existing literature focuses overwhelmingly on the sexual violence that targeted the Yazidi women. While illuminating the experiences of Yazidi women is necessary, more attention should be paid to the experiences of men and children. Further, as genocide does not happen by accident, more attention should be paid to the reasons behind the adoption of a gendered genocidal strategy. Through a comprehensive and inclusive gendered analysis of the Yazidi genocide, this thesis argues that the Islamic State has deliberately pursued a gendered genocidal logic to serve both ideological and strategic goals. This thesis adopts a qualitative research strategy and a single case study research design. Further, in order to understand the gendered outcome of the Yazidi genocide, this thesis uses explaining-outcome process tracing. By centering the voices and experiences of Yazidi survivors, this thesis aims to highlight the multi-faceted nature of the crime of genocide. Accordingly, it argues that a gendered analysis of the Yazidi genocide can ensure more transformative and inclusive accountability mechanisms. This thesis concludes that an inclusive transformative justice approach can achieve justice for the victims and survivors of the Yazidi genocide.