ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The German parliament on Thursday recognized the 2014 crimes committed by the Islamic State (ISIS) against the Yazidi community in Iraq as genocide, reported media outlets, in what was referred to as “an essential step in overcoming the trauma” of the ethnic minority group.

The legislature unanimously approved a proposal made by the Petitions Committee to recognize the crimes as genocide, reported the German T-Online.

Germany joins the United Nations, the European parliament, and other nations including the United States, Belgium, Canada, and the Netherlands that have already recognized ISIS crimes against the Yazidis as genocide.

Members of the Greens parliamentary bloc welcomed the decision.

“A life in security and peace, internationally - that must be our goal for the Yazidi community, the outlet cited Greens MP Max Lucks as saying.

Germany houses dozens of Yazidi diaspora. It is among the few countries that have taken legal action against the militant group.

A German court in November sentenced an ISIS member to life imprisonment, after finding him guilty of genocide and war crimes against a Yazidi woman and her five-year-old daughter. The landmark ruling was the first ever conviction of an ISIS member for genocide.

ISIS swept across Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014. Minority groups especially suffered under the terror group's rule, including Yazidis, Shabaks, and Christians.

More than 6,000 Yazidis were kidnapped when ISIS attacked their heartland of Shingal in Nineveh province, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Office for Rescuing Kidnapped Yazidis. Over 2,000 remain missing.

The United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL in Iraq and the Levant (UNITAD) stated in May 2021 that they had established “clear and convincing evidence” that ISIS had committed genocide against the Yazidis.[1]