Introducing Some Traumas and PTSD among Yazidi Female Survivors from ISIS Army

Abstract

Background: The violence against women remains one of the most serious challenges of ourtimes. Sexual violence committed in armed conflicts has been termed “history’s greatest silence”is considered to be a central issue and a “top priority” in the work of the worldwide governments.The discrimination and the sexual abuse of Yazidi women and girls by the terrorist group ISIS inaugust 2014 in Sinjar is a horrible war crime against Yazidi people and an international tragediancrime in this era. Yazidi people especially their females have been through lots physical andpsychological traumas since ISIS attack, as a result of these and other violence acts they areexposed to physical problems and serious mental illnesses such as PTSD, depression and suicide,sleep disorders and eating disorders. The study aims to spot the light on some of the traumas thatYazidi female survivors faced with ISIS and to measure the prevalence of PTSD among thesurvivor Females. Method: a descriptive study with purposive sampling of (52) Yazidi femalesurvivors from ISIS have given the study questionnaire, which composed of somesociodemographic and general questions, and PTSD questionnaire, from September to November2016, in Yazidi camps in Duhok. A descriptive statistics was used to describe the results by(SPSS. 22). Results: the results have shown high percentages of the traumas that is faced byYazidi female survivors, (38.4) have hardly escaped from ISIS militants, (80.7) have lost at leastone member of their families, (76.9) exposed to physical violence, (61.5) exposed to sexualviolence, (84.6) exposed to violence by more than one person, and (75.0) of them have PTSDsymptoms. Recommendations: national and international interventions are required for themespecially for the victims of sexual violence, physical, social and psychological supports areneeded. Further studies and researches also required to assess their suffering and other possiblepsychological disorders.