ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The province of Nineveh has begun issuing title deeds to more than 15,000 Yazidis living in 11 settlements near Shingal (Sinjar), ending decades of official denial of their property rights. “The Yazidis suffered for more than 50 years to officially register their properties,” Ra’ad al-Hadidi, director of Nineveh municipalities, told Rudaw. In 1975, as part of the Ba'ath regime’s Arabization campaign, thousands of Yazidis were forcibly displaced from their ancestral villages in the mountainous Shingal area and resettled in newly established collective towns on the plains. They were not, however, given official documentation of their ownership of these new homes. Murad Hassan was one of the first to receive the deed for his property. “I am very happy that our homes have now been registered as our own property, and we can finally rebuild them,” he told Rudaw. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) welcomed the decision, describing it as a “breakthrough.” “This achievement is a tangible and solid example of advancing durable solutions, restoring dignity, identity, and hope to a community that has endured unimaginable hardships,” Mohamed al-Hassan, the head of UNAMI, said in a statement. Applicants are required to pay a fee of 20,000 Iraqi dinars (around $15) per square meter to obtain a title deed - amounting to approximately $6,000 per household, according to UNAMI. These fees are being waived for the Yazidis.
