"Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls have had their lives shattered by the horrors of sexual violence and sexual slavery in IS captivity," Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera said, following interviews with several victims who managed to escape.
The survivors said that the perpetrators are mostly Iraqi and Syrian men. A great number of them are IS militants, while others are thought to be their supporters. Some of the former captives said they were forced to live in the abductors' households with their wives and children, according to the Amnesty International report.
"The Kurdistan Regional Government, UN and other humanitarian organizations who are providing medical and other support services to survivors of sexual violence must step up their efforts. They must ensure they are swiftly and proactively reaching out to those who may need them," Rovera added.
Yazidi is a national minority of Kurdish origin, living in northern Iraq where IS, a Sunni jihadi group, started a military campaign in June. IS announced the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.
