Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate has been made of numbers of Yazidi people displaced by Islamic State forces in Northern Iraq.

ISIL and associated armed groups continue to commit atrocities against Muslims, Christians, Yezidis, Turkmen and other communities throughout the areas under their control. The humanitarian reports are deeply disturbing.

The impact ISIL atrocities have had on the Yezidi community and other civilians is tragic.

The UN estimates that 1.8 million people in Iraq have been displaced by the humanitarian emergency in total. All UK funded aid is distributed on the basis of need, regardless of ethnicity and therefore we only have displacement data based on need. As a result it is difficult to estimate the exact number of Yezidi people who have been displaced

UK aid is reaching displaced people across Iraq, including in the Kurdish region, where many Christians and Yezidis have fled to. We will continue to work with the UN and the international community to ensure peoples’ rights are protected.