Countering the Islamic State's Gendered Violence and Minority Persecution

Next month marks ten years since the Islamic State began its genocide against the Yezidi people, yet the group has still not been held fully accountable for the minority atrocities and gendered violence committed during its temporary rule over large swaths of Iraq and Syria. How did IS members employ such violence as part of their governance strategy during the caliphate years? Has their approach changed since then? And as IS affiliates extend their influence and areas of control inside and outside the Middle East, what is the international community doing to curb such violence?

To discuss these issues, The Washington Institute is pleased to announce a virtual Policy Forum with Pari Ibrahim, Devorah Margolin, and Gina Vale as part of its long-running Counterterrorism Lecture Series. The event will be moderated by Levy Senior Fellow Aaron Y. Zelin.

Pari Ibrahim is the founder and executive director of the Free Yezidi Foundation. Her advocacy for survivors of the Islamic State’s Yezidi genocide has included numerous publications in media outlets worldwide as well as testimony before the UN Security Council and other international institutions.

Devorah Margolin is the Blumenstein-Rosenbloom Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, and coeditor of the new Institute compilation Jihadist Governance and Statecraft. Her research focuses on strategic communications, propaganda, and the role of women and gender in violent extremism, among other topics.

Gina Vale is a criminology lecturer at the University of Southampton and an associate fellow with the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. Her feminist, intersectional research on terrorism and governance includes the forthcoming book The Unforgotten Women of the Islamic State.

The Policy Forum series is made possible through the generosity of the Florence and Robert Kaufman Family.