In a desperate bid to escape the horrors of ISIS, Shireen Khudeeda, now 31, was abducted in northern Iraq.
Shireen shared her story to raise awareness of the atrocities suffered by her people and the lack of attention from the West.
In 2014, the teenager had big dreams for the future, living a normal life with her family in the village of Hardan in northern Iraq.
The community was exclusively composed of Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking religious group that was a minority in Iraq and viewed as 'devil-worshippers' by the extremist Islamic State.
The jihadist group had just burst onto the international stage in 2014, seizing vast swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq.
In August 2014, the fighters reached the Hardan and other Yazidi villages on the northern side of Shingal Mountain, close to the border with Syria.
Recalling their arrival, Shireen said: 'ISIS came to our village and asked us to raise a white flag, saying that no one would be harmed.'
However, her family knew this was a lie.
She had relatives in other villages on the southern side of Shingal Mountain, who had already been killed by ISIS.
So that afternoon, Shireen and her family tried to flee, but ISIS stopped them at a junction.
They separated the men from their families and took young boys, around 13 or 14 years old.
Shireen was then driven to a school, where thousands of women and children were being held.
She was one of thousands of Yazidis torn away from their families and facing unspeakable abuse.
Shireen was taken to Mosul and held captive as an ISIS sex slave for three long years.
She was passed around and sold to several different ISIS members, enduring a non-stop nightmare of isolation, horror, and absolute brutality.
Shireen saw a man being shot in front of her very eyes.
Despite this, she did not lose hope that the West would come and save her people.
When other women were crying and saying that ISIS would kill everyone and enslave them, Shireen told her grandmother that this was something huge and that the great countries would help them and release them.
That rescue never came.
Instead, she risked her life and successfully escaped ISIS captivity in 2017.
Islamic State killed more than 5,000 Yazidis, enslaved an estimated 6,000 people, including 2,700 who are still missing.
While the world typically calls the group 'Yazidis,' many members refer to themselves as Ezidi.
The United Kingdom acknowledged in August 2023 that ISIS had carried out a genocide, following the lead of the UN, Germany, France, and the US.
Shireen, who believes the genocide is ongoing, is unconvinced by these acts of recognition.
'I would like to ask the UK a question: Did they even try to stop the genocide while it was taking place?
'And in the last 12 years, has the UK even tried to find a solution for our ongoing suffering?
'Recognition alone is symbolic and simply not enough when perpetrators and their complicit actors remain free, and in many cases, are treated with more respect than the survivors themselves.'
The Genocide Convention of 1948 compels countries to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.
Campaigners say the UK and many other Western countries have failed to prosecute anyone for committing genocide.
Aldo Zammit-Borda, Professor of Law at City St George's, University of London, said: 'There has been a large number of foreign fighters who joined ISIS at the height of the violence.'
'A number of those have been returning to the UK. Although there have been some prosecutions for the crime of terrorism, but that is a different crime.'
'We would like the UK to prosecute these foreign fighters for the crime of genocide.'
The Truth Commission, a community-led initiative, aims to hold countries to account for their 'inaction' over genocide.
Chaired by renowned human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, the panel will hear oral evidence from over 30 survivor-experts and specialists across three days.
The commission is being funded by the Economic Social Research Council (ESRC) and is being led by a diverse team of experts at City St George's, University of Manchester, and the German Institute for Global and Area Studies.
The Foreign Office refused to comment.
The Truth Commission wants to create momentum for justice for the Yazidi people, to remind the world that they are waiting for justice.
Only a handful of cases prosecuting genocide have taken place in Germany and France, including one member of ISIS found guilty of the crime against the Yazidis in November 2021.
A UN inquiry identified more than 1,400 suspected perpetrators of genocide.
Cases involving crimes committed overseas present particular challenges, including gathering admissible evidence, securing witness testimony, and establishing jurisdiction.
The Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command has a war crimes team that investigates allegations of genocide, as well as crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture.
The commission is particularly focused on forcing Iraq to begin prosecuting fighters for genocide, and wants the UK to apply diplomatic pressure on the country to implement a legal framework for that to happen.
Shireen wants the Commission to 'recognize the failures that allowed the genocide to happen, and contribute to justice and accountability.'
'The UK and the international community have failed us by offering promises and sympathy instead of the real accountability, justice, and action we need.'
'True justice means examining all aspects of the genocide to ensure this will never happen again.'
The survivor also wants more investment in professional centres to provide treatment and support for survivors.
The Truth Commission is being led by a diverse team of experts and is being funded by the Economic Social Research Council (ESRC).
The commission will submit a landmark report to the Houses of Parliament in 2027.
