This weekend marks the first anniversary since ISIS militants attacked nearly 300,000 Yazidi and Kurdish families in Sinjar in northern Iraq.
Between 2,000 and 5,000 Yazidi men are believed to have been killed in the massacre.
Around 40,000 ethnic Yazidis were forced to flee to the mountain, where many perished.
A year on, hundreds of thousands are seeking refuge in Iraqi Kurdish areas where many are homeless and living in camps.
Christian Aid Ireland has been delivering aid and psychological support to these as well as other Iraqi displaced and Syrian refugees.
Louise Finan, spokesperson for Christian Aid in Iraq, said a political solution is the only way the crisis can be resolved:
The Islamic State targeted, and aimed to wipe out, the Yazidi population due to their religious beliefs.
In the past year many Yazidi people, including thousands of women and children, have been held captive by the Islamic State, often enduring horrific conditions and treatment.
Newstalk’s Shona Murray is in Kurdistan, in Northern Iraq, and she spoke with Yazidi families who have recently escaped from ISIS capture in Sinjar. You can listen back here.
