The Yazidi Asylum Project

The Yazidi Asylum Project was established to engage in advocacy and litigation that may assist Yazidis, as a group, to obtain effective protection through asylum in Germany. It seeks to

i. document and analyse the reasons why Yazidi asylum seekers are being denied asylum in Germany;

ii. determine which advocacy and litigation steps can be taken to assist Yazidis to obtain effective asylum protection in Germany, with their families; and

iii. identify specific cases that can be brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) or other human rights mechanisms, that would, if granted, promote greater structural rights for Yazidis as a group.

The Yazidi Asylum Project does not provide legal advice to individuals. It does hope to provide general information that may be of use in asylum applications or appeals.

Established by Melinda Taylor and Sareta Ashraph, the Project also works directly with the Zentralrat der Eziden in Deutschland (ZED) - http://www.zentralrat-eziden.com/ and with a number of NGOs and lawyers, including:

§ Advocates Abroad - https://advocatesabroad.org

§ Yazda - https://www.yazda.org/

§ The Free Yezidi Foundation - https://www.freeyezidi.org/

You can contact us via email or follow us on Facebook or Twitter:

yazidiasylumproject@protonmail.com

Facebook: @yazidiasylumproject

Twitter: @yazidiasylum

Please do not post confidential information or details concerning your case on Facebook.

More detailed information can be found in the FAQs below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why was the Yazidi Asylum Project created?

The Yazidi Asylum Project was created in response to the tightening of restrictions on asylum-seekers, in the context of the particular vulnerabilities of the Yazidi group. These vulnerabilities include:

i. being the victims of a genocide in their homeland of northern Iraq, as documented by the United Nations;

ii. being a historically persecuted group targeted in cycles of annihilative violence committed over centuries;

iii. the immediate dangers to their physical safety, as individuals and as a group, if returned to Iraq; and

iv. the questions surrounding whether authorities in the region are able and willing to protect the Yazidi group. Given the group's entrenched marginalisation and the impact on infrastructure and development in the disputed Shingal region which is the Yazidis' homeland, the resources that will be needed to protect Yazidis are enormous.

Who is working on the Yazidi Asylum Project?

Melinda Taylor is an Australian human rights attorney, based in The Hague (https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-taylor-7722665/) . She has appeared as Counsel before the International Criminal Court and is regarded as an expert in the field of international law. Melinda has provided voluntary assistance to asylum seekers through the NGO, Advocates Abroad (see https://advocatesabroad.org/ )

Sareta Ashraph is a barrister from Trinidad and Tobago (and admitted to practise in the United Kingdom). She is specialised in international law, with a current emphasis on gender and genocide. Sareta worked for the UN Commission of Inquiry for Syria for several years, and is now focused on ISIS’s crimes against Yazidis. For more information see https://www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk/barrister/sareta-ashraph/