Desperate times for Iraq's Yazidis

According to the UNCHR Iraq has around 1 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). Most of them have found their way to the northern parts of the country.

Many of the Internally Displaced Persons in northern Iraq are Yazidis. When "Islamic State" fighters attacked the Sinjar Mountains, home to the Yazidis, many of them had to leave all their belongings behind to find security in northern Iraq.

It has been impossible for NGOs and the Kurdistan government to look after the huge numbers of people who fled to northern Iraq in early August. The ones who can't find space in refugee camps are forced to take care of themselves without any support.

The lack of space in refugee camps has forced many Yazidis to live in construction buildings, empty houses or school buildings all around northern Iraq.

Not everybody had time to escape when "IS" attacked the villages in Sinjar; many were either executed or died trying to fight off the militants. The bloody events have come to be known as the "Sinjar massacre."

The upcoming winter is likely to add to the hardship of many of the families living in the empty buildings, wondering how they will survive. The lack of money for food and blankets is a major concern that requires urgent international attention to prevent an even more desperate situation for the Yazidis.

Around 40 families have made this construction building their home.

A new refugee camp has been promised for the IDPs who are now without any support, but so far there has been no sign that it will happen anytime soon. "The only thing we can do is to wait for help and try to survive," says one refugee.

Many Yazidis are urging the US-led coalition to launch airstrikes over their homes in the mountains where they have been attacked by IS extremists - so that they can return to their homes at some point. "Please, bomb my home first," says one of the Yazidis who thinks that the only way to defeat IS is from the air.

One of the many Yazidi children playing in the construction building. Their future is a major concern for the international community.

As if their current plight wasn't bad enough, the landlord of the construction building where the Yazidi families have lived for almost three months wants them to leave. "We have nowhere to go, so for us is it impossible to leave until a new refugee camp has been built for us," says one.

A young man posing in front of the camera. Many of the refugees left family members in Sinjar villages and have no idea whether they are still alive.