A woman from the Yazidi religious minority group has recently spoken out about her experience of sexual abuse and slavery at the hands of the Islamic State (IS) group and the atrocities that the militants have committed against humanity.
The woman, who would not give her name, said she is a survivor of IS's brutal treatment after being held captive for a year.
However, thousands of Yazidi girls and young women are still being held captive by the militants, many of them used as sex slaves.
The militants are also forcing Yazidi people to convert to Islam and train young Yazidi boys to fight, she added.
"They took girls as young as 14, 12, nine, even eight years old as sex slaves. They trained the boys to use guns, how to pray and to read the Quran. Those who didn't learn would be beaten. Once they almost beat my son to death with cables," said the woman from a camp in Dohuk in northern Iraq, adding that her son and two teenage daughters are still being held captive.
Although she managed to flee, she is deeply traumatized and finds there is little psychological support available for people who have suffered like her.
"I expect I will die, and never see my children. Sometimes when I'm alone, I want to kill myself. I am so upset for my children," she said as she recounted her harrowing story.
To help the Yazidi women and girls, a trauma center has been set up. However, according to a doctor overseeing the psychological treatment of the victims, the resources are very limited and there is a crying need for better mental health care.
"So far, more than 800 women went through this process of treatment. But having only one psychiatrist and two trained and 35 psychotherapists is not enough to provide good mental services to these women. They were victims of rape; they were witnessing killing of their relatives; they were witnessing abuse of their children," said Dr. Nezar Islet Taib, head of the Ministry of Health Directorate in Dohuk.
According to local officials' latest estimates, about 2,400 Yazidi men, women and children have been ransomed, rescued or managed to escape the clutches of IS.
However, many Yazidi women and girls remain under IS captivity, and the government faces a huge challenge to rescue them and help thousands of other traumatized people survive in makeshift camps, Dr. Taib said.
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