Title: A demographic documenation of# ISIS# ’s attack on the Yazidi village of #Kocho#
Author: Dr Valeria Cetorelli
Publisher:LSE Middle East Centre Report
Release date: 2019
This study is the first publication of the Yazidi Victims Demographic Documentation Project, the objective of which is to identify every victim of ISIS’s attack on the Yazidi community of Sinjar. Kocho was selected to be the subject of this first demographic analysis due to the large numbers of Yazidi men, women and children killed and kidnapped from this village, and because of the distinct timeline of the ISIS attack on Kocho as compared to other locations in Sinjar. As the Yazidi Victims Demographic Documentation Project progresses, similar analyses will be conducted for all Yazidi villages and the town of Sinjar. It is envisaged that the consolidated database resulting from this project will have multiple short, medium and long-term uses. These include, for example, a data pool that can assist in identification of remains in mass graves, and which provides reliable information for use in planning for and prioritisation of members of the Yazidi community, including provision of counselling, increased medical interventions, and gender- and youth-specific needs. It is also envisaged, and is an integral aspect of the methodological planning, that the Yazidi Victims Demographic Documentation Project will play a significant role in achieving accountability for the crimes ISIS has committed against the Yazidis. The consolidated database of victims provides reliable information of high probative value for use in criminal prosecutions before national, regional and international courts and tribunals. The documentation project’s data is also capable of informing broader understandings of transitional justice, including material and symbolic reparations.[1]