Mosul, Iraq -- In implementation of the Yazidi Survivors Law No. 8 of 2021, Iraq's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has announced the allocation of land to 262 Yezidi women who survived captivity under the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization in Nineveh Province.

Ministry spokesperson Hassan Khuwam told Rudaw that the Directorate of Yazidi Survivors' Affairs, which falls under the Ministry of Labor, submitted a request to the Iraqi Council of Ministers to allocate land for survivors in accordance with the 2021 law concerning Yezidi women survivors.

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"Land will be granted to 262 Yazidi women survivors in the first phase," Khuwam said, adding that an additional 2,000 survivors are expected to receive land in the future.

He also noted that a plot of land has been allocated in Mosul for the establishment of a directorate dedicated to Yezidi women's affairs. The new directorate will include units for psychological support, training, and other services designed to help Yazidi women reintegrate into society.

According to a statement from the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a plot of land measuring 2,481 square meters has been allocated and transferred free of charge in southern Nineveh to the General Directorate for the Affairs of Survivors of ISIS Captivity.

On 1 March 2021, the Iraqi Parliament passed Law No. 8, which aims to provide protection and compensation for survivors from the Yezidi, Christian, Turkmen, and Shabak communities who were subjected to genocide by ISIS. The law officially recognizes these crimes as genocide and crimes against humanity. It also established a general directorate to support survivors, provide compensation, offer education and employment opportunities, and open investigations into the missing and kidnapped.

ISIS carried out massacres against all communities of the region, including the Assyrian and Yezidi peoples. Although the announcement that land will be allocated to Yezidi survivors, there is no indication that the allocation of land will include displaced Assyrians, who were also targeted by acts of genocide by ISIS.

The displacement of Assyrians from Nineveh Plains, their ancestral homeland, has become effectively permanent for much of the community. Churches, homes, and community infrastructure were destroyed during ISIS's occupation, but unlike some other groups, most Assyrian families have not returned due to insecurity, lack of services, and fear of militia harassment and property confiscation by groups linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). Many Assyrian IDPs relocated to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) or emigrated abroad, accelerating the collapse of the community's historic presence in the region. Today, only a very small number of Assyrian families remain, and demographic change driven by insecurity and weak governance continues to reshape Nineveh Plains.