BAGHDAD: Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) control over territory in Iraq has crumbled.1 Yet the fate of Iraq’s religious minorities remains unclear. When it was in control, ISIL treated all populations under its rule with great brutality, but the jihadist group specifically targeted Iraq’s Christian and Yazidi communities for enslavement and violence, leading to widespread death and displacement among these two religious groups.2 And although ISIL has been driven out, the Christian and Yazidi communities, both with roots in Iraq going back thousands of years, are still at risk of extinction.
There is naturally an altruistic reason to support targets of genocide–of which Christians and Yazidis unquestionably are–but there are strategic and practical reasons as well.
There are between 7.5 million and 15 million Christians in the Middle East.5 And while the Christian population in terms of numbers has increased since 1900, the faster growth rates of Muslims in the Middle East has meant that the Christian share of the population decreased from 10 percent in 1900 to 5 percent in 2010, according to research from the Pew Research Center.6 Data on deaths and displacements of Christians by ISIL are inconclusive, but the jihadist group has devastated Christian communities, leading some to fear Christians’ presence in the region will be permanently diminished.7
The Yazidi community–a population that ranged between 300,000 to 700,000 in Iraq as of 2012–faced repression under former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, which was followed by waves of violence that broke out after the United States overthrew him in 2003.8 With the rise of ISIL, the Yazidis endured widespread massacres and sexual slavery that have nearly wiped out this ancient community.
