JINHA

DUHOK –Civil society activists, working with the YPG/YPJ, have reunited seven escapees from Daesh captivity with their families in a village near the Southern Kurdish city of Duhok.

The villagers of Baadré erupted in wailing when they saw the two women and five children. Daesh currently imprisons approximately 7,000 women and children that they have captured as war booty and treat as property, many of them from the Êzîdî religious group.

The Diyarbakır-based platform"Struggle for Women Detained by Daesh" (formed by a range of Northern Kurdish civil society and women's organizations) got in touch with the women after YPG/YPJ forces liberated them from Daesh hands. The women recently made the long journey from Diyarbakır to Duhok after working with the platform, formed by coordination between the Congress of Free Women (KJA), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a range of civil society groups in Northern Kurdistan.

FatmaGül, one of the platform founders, said this reunion was an outcome of the joint work between the platform and officials in Rojava.Fatma noted that the Baadré village women immediately organized a visit to greet the returning women—a positive sign in the context of the danger of alienation and marginalization of survivors of Daesh captivity and sexual violence.

"Women's show of solidarity is a very important step," said Fatma. "It made us so happy to see their relatives show this kind of organization to these women, who have been in Daesh hands for months."

Platform member FeleknazUca said that the platform is also working on rehabilitation and psychological services for the women and children who have survived Daesh captivity.

(zd/fk/cm)