GENEVA, July 31 — Twelve years after Islamic State (IS) militants carried out what the United Nations called a genocide against the Yazidi community in Iraq, Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad says justice remains painfully out of reach.

IS fighters seized parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, including the Yazidis’ ancestral homeland in Sinjar, where thousands of men were killed and women and girls were taken as sex slaves.

UN investigators later found that the group’s actions amounted to genocide against the Kurdish-speaking religious minority.

“After surviving, many of them have decided to use their voice to fight for justice for our community,” Murad said at a press conference in Geneva.

“A lot of them have still family members in captivity. Their loved ones that were killed have not been identified and returned,” said Murad, who was herself enslaved by IS before becoming a leading advocate for Yazidi survivors.

“We have loved ones in displacement camps,” she added.

Murad said international efforts to hold perpetrators accountable have moved too slowly, leaving many families waiting for answers.

“For 12 years we have been repeating the same issues: of the missing women and children; of the remains to be identified; of the Yazidis to be able to go back home, and for justice to be delivered for survivors,” she said.

“Progress has been made, but it’s very slow. And for many families, it’s torture, because they still wait every day in tents, many in captivity.”

“Prevention starts with justice and accountability — and that is what we’re all here for,” she added.

Another former IS captive, Khawa Ali, said some militants had returned to Europe and were now “walking free” while victims continued to live in fear.

She welcomed the conviction in Belgium last year of the man who held her captive.

“My message today is that we hope that justice will be delivered and the international community will continue to do trials,” she said. — AFP