The Story of How an Ezidi Boy Managed to Escaped IS and How We All Have Failed

The person in this article will be referred to as “J” in order to protect his identity and safety.

At just 14 years old, J was thrown into a nightmare under the control of ISIS. Captured with his family from the Ezidi town of Sulagh in Iraq, he was taken to Raqqa, where he was forced to join a camp filled with other young recruits. There, the boys were subjected to brutal training, including lessons on beheading, with ISIS “tutors” teaching them to view the heads as belonging to “infidels.” J recalls practicing the gruesome act on dolls, though he never mastered it despite repeated attempts.

In the camp, children like J were forced to endure physical violence, with instructors urging them to be cruel. J even recounts breaking his brother’s tooth under threat of death. Over the course of five months, he and others were indoctrinated into ISIS’s ideology, trained in weaponry, and pushed to commit horrific acts of violence.

J’s escape came when the camp was temporarily unguarded during a battle. He and his brother fled, but a friend, already indoctrinated, refused to join them. J’s story is a testament to the horrors ISIS inflicted on children, many of whom were turned into fighters, suicide bombers, or victims of violence.

The attack on the Ezidi people of Iraq happened over 10 years ago, but for the Ezidis the genocide is still continuing. Many Ezidis were killed and many are alive but have faced a fate even worse than death. Thousands and thousands of Ezidi children are missing, female victims have been enslaved, tortured and raped; while the male Ezidi population has been used in islamists attempt to commit even more atrocities.

The Ezidi children who were taken from their peaceful homes and lives, have been forced to learn Arabic, the Quran and indoctrinated to become tools in the hands of the terrorists. Although some attempts have been made by the global community to recognise and prosecute those responsible for, we have all failed the Ezidi people.

We failed when we allowed them to be targeted and attacked by Islamists. We failed when we let the survivors remain in the hands of the perpetrators. We failed when we let the survivors live in IDP camps under dire conditions. We have failed and we continue to fail by not taking action and silently going on with our lives.