 2024 marks 10 years since ISIS's genocide against the AZDs in Sinjar and other communities in Iraq. 10 years on, the wounds of the AZD community in particular remain fresh, as thousands of women, girls and men that ISIS kidnapped remain missing. Hundreds of thousands of AZDs remain displaced, and the families of the victims and the entire AZD community await justice for the heinous crimes of ISIS. Much of Sinjar is still destroyed. The district is challenged by the competing armed forces in groups and the domestic and political rivalry that is taking place there. The complexities of Sinjar cannot be exaggerated. These complexities have obstructed justice and rebuilding the area. They obstruct and they continue to challenge governance, security and peaceful coexistence. Governments, organizations, civil society and other community leaders have tried to help Sinjar and its people to recover from genocide. There has been progress, but it remains modest compared to the wounds of and the needs of the Sinjar and its people. By design, ISIS implicated members of different tribes and communities against each other to sow the seeds of division. As a result, entire tribes and communities were accused of the crimes committed by some. In addition, communities seek justice and reparations for damage caused during the military operations to liberate the areas. Given the expertise of the U.S. Institute of Peace in Iraq and in peace building, the government of Iraq and community leaders over the years sought U.S. peace assistance to prevent communal violence, bridge community community and community government relations, solve problems through dialogue and promote peaceful coexistence. USIP and its partners led dialogues among tribal and other community leaders from Salah Haddeen and southern provinces after the camp Spiker and Massacre of 2014, also among community leaders in Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk in 2015, and in Ninoa Plains and Tala'far after them. Over the years, we were asked if we could facilitate dialogue in Sinjar. We assessed multiple times and concluded that the complexities of Sinjar do not allow for success and may cause harm. We were certain that we cannot cover all of Sinjar's areas, actors and issues. We did not intervene. However, community leaders continued to report to USIP that communal tensions continue to exist. There is lack of trust, a crime against an AZD is blamed on the Arabs, a crime against an Arab is blamed on the AZDs. Community divisions were exploited politically and were causing more harm. These all indicated that despite the fact that AZDs, Arabs and other communities coexisted in peace before, ISIS has clearly caused damage that they needed to be addressed. During the ongoing request to USIP, we selected Northeast Sinjar because it represented the least complex part of a very complicated district. We thought if dialogue cannot succeed there, it would be even more difficult in other places of Sinjar. The preliminary steps indicated that USIP's approach may bear results, but progress remains slow. Along the way, we learned of limitations faced by other organizations who tried other approaches and in other areas of Sinjar. Over the past year, USIP expanded the team to include its long-standing Iraqi partner Al-Tahrir Association for Development, known as TAD, and other members of the network of Iraqi facilitators. The team implemented a five-phase dialogue process involving AZD and Arab community leaders from various parts of northern Sinjar. The initial phases of the process focused on the areas of Borek and Gohbil settlements along with the neighboring villages where AZD, AZD and Arab dialogues were facilitated. Through these dialogues, communities were clear with each other that they seek justice, not reconciliation, better services and peace for their areas, not involvement in politics. They reached common ground and wanted practical solutions. Depending on this success, the dialogue process expanded to include other areas in northern Sinjar, resulting in each community reaching common ground internally and with a broader community as well and establishing channels of communications. The dialogue culminated in the northern Sinjar social cohesion agreement which was signed by AZD and Arab community leaders on March 30th this year in Mosul. Among other things, the community leaders commit to rejecting violence and extremism, support state processes and institutions, and turn to a rule of law to settle differences and conflicts. The leaders also call upon the government actors to unify the administration and security configuration in Sinjar, rebuild their areas and expedite compensation for those who lost relatives in the conflict with ISIS and during military operations. Minor officials from the federal government of Iraq, including the National Security Advisory, the National Security Service and the Ministry of Migration and Displacement, as well as the Pakistan Regional Government, the provincial government and council of Ninoa participated in the ceremony and expressed support to the agreement. The governor of Ninoa participated in the agreement signing ceremony and signed agreement himself. In the country's accounts, I am the president of the National Security Service in this district. The criminals here were in jail, either today or tomorrow or after that. But thank God, the Arabs are now suffering, or they are not suffering, and the Sinjar people are suffering, and we hope that you see them in Sinjar and in the Sinjar people. The Arab country, the country of God, the country of the people, we will not be Ask the truth. There were challenges during the dialogue process and after the announcement. There are those who viewed dialogue and interpreted social cohesion to mean reconciliation, giving up the rights of the victims or giving up on justice or forgiving perpetrators of ISIS crimes or they say the signatories do not represent the people or the document does not include all the needs of Sinjar. The reality is the Northern Sinjar leaders did not offer or request reconciliation. They were very clear that they do not represent the victims or all Sinjar. Ensuring ISIS criminals to justice was always a top demand. Ensuring and expediting reparations for the families of the victims was another priority. Leaders from both communities agreed on the importance of addressing these grievances and that's what makes this process important that both communities were in it together. The process was a community dialogue and finding common ground about community needs. Not a political dialogue or a political agreement. The leaders have shown incredible courage by participating in the dialogue process publicly and transparently sharing what they pursued together again seeking justice together for those who have lost family members by providing a foundation to be built upon. In addition to dialogues, USIP has supported other initiatives like the Conflict and Stabilization Monitoring Framework to convey the voice of the community in Sinjar including the AZDs and other districts of Ninoa to Iraqi government and international community to address the needs of the people. USIP hosted the Nobody's Listening exhibition at its headquarters office in Washington, DC. The exhibition commemorates ISIS's genocide against the AZDs. USIP also hosted public discussions to remind at the 10-year anniversary of ISIS's genocide that the heavy burden of physical and social destruction that ISIS left behind is not done. Sinjar and the ongoing impact of AZD genocide require particular attention.