A/HRC/34/53/Add.1 41. Leaders stated that their areas were under threat from ISIL and claimed that they had not been adequately protected by Iraqi or Kurdistan authorities. Turkmen villages had been taken over, including in the Turkmen-majority area of Tal Afar in Ninewa Governorate. Turkmen had been killed and tens of thousands forced to flee their areas. Many Shia Turkmen had fled to southern governorates, including Najaf and Karbala. Sunni Turkmen were reportedly held at checkpoints as they sought safety in Erbil and other locations. 42. The majority Shia Turkmen town of Amerli in Salah al-Din Governorate was subject to siege by ISIL from 15 June until 31 August 2015, with frequent rocket attacks and attempts to take over the town. Little humanitarian assistance reached the community, which was left with little water, food, fuel or medical supplies. Dozens of civilians died before humanitarian aid reached the town. One leader alleged that Turkmen received less humanitarian assistance than had been provided to other groups and that rapes, killings and other violations had gone unaddressed and underreported. Community representatives expressed frustration because, although they frequently met United Nations representatives, nothing had changed and they were rarely mentioned in reports along with other minorities. Yazidis 43. The vast majority of Yazidis, one of Iraq’s oldest minorities thought to number up to 700,000 people, were concentrated in northern Iraq around the town of Sinjar. Leaders recalled that the community had suffered a history of persecution owing to perceptions of their faith, with numerous episodes of mass killing, including targeted attacks during sectarian violence following the 2003 invasion. They had suffered particularly when their regions were overrun by ISIL beginning in August 2014. Community leaders expressed frustration at the lack of action, support and protection by the Government and the international community since the attacks. “We lost our land, our women, our people. We don’t see a bright future here,” stated one. They said that 400,000 Yazidis had been displaced and were “trying to survive under the threat of extinction”. 44. In August 2016, UNAMI-OHCHR reported unverified estimates that between 2,000 and 5,500 Yazidis had been killed by ISIL since 3 August 2014; 8 6,396 Yazidis were reportedly abducted on or after 3 August 2014 (3,537 women and girls and 2,859 men and boys). By mid-May 2016, 2,587 Yazidi had reportedly managed to escape captivity (934 women, 325 men, 658 girls and 670 boys), while some 3,799 remained in captivity (1,935 women and 1,864 men). Tens of thousands of Yazidis continue to live in internally displaced person camps and other temporary shelters in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, including in the Khanke internally displaced person camps, which the Special Rapporteur visited. Some expressed their feeling that they had been abandoned. 45. Yazidis in internally displaced person camps in Dohuk described their distressing experiences of escaping from Sinjar in August 2014 as ISIL overran their region. They called for greater international action to free the captured women as well as national and international recognition that genocide had been committed against them (see below). Leaders criticized the Government for failing to denounce the atrocities and the Kurdish authorities for failing to protect them when they came under attack from ISIL. They highlighted the complete destruction by shelling, bombardments and street fighting of liberated Yazidi areas and expressed the view that in some cases the destruction could have been avoided. 46. Some representatives claimed that 100-200 Yazidis were leaving Iraq daily, with 100,000 having already left. Some spoke of having received no information about those who had left and fearing “the worst”. Many had little hope for the future or for a return to 8 12 See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IQ/UNAMIReport12Aug2016_en.pdf.