Thousands of women and girls have been brutally raped, beaten, and sold as slaves by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Many of these are girls are Yazidis—from a small religious minority that practices the ancient religion Yazidism.
In August 2014, the Yazidis were driven onto Mount Sinjar, and overtaken by ISIS.
Many of the men and older boys were shot, while women were systematically collectivized and transported to surrounding areas and later sold as sex slaves.
Because these girls don’t practice Islam, rape is justified and encouraged by ISIS' extremist version of Islam. ISIS cites certain portions of the hadith to defend its use and sale of sex slaves.
As women who have escaped begin to tell their horrifying stories, ISIS is being revealed for the unbelievably brutal terrorist group that it is.
Those who have escaped are able to recount the transport of women and subsequent sales– suggesting that the trade was well planned and premeditated.
ISIS' abduction and sale of women as sex slaves is nothing less than human trafficking.
Since ISIS has proven it will go to extensive lengths to raise revenues, it’s no surprise that they would chose human trafficking as one of their modes for reaping profit—worldwide profits from human trafficking may be as high as $150 billion annually.
