From Our Own Correspondent

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Factual

Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents and writers.

Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers telling stories from around the world.

From Our Own Correspondent: The Yazidis who survived Islamic State

08/07/2023

The Yazidis who survived Islamic State

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, The Yazidis who survived Islamic State

How an underground network in Iraq helped free Yazidi women and girls from slavery.

Thousands of Yazidis living in Iraq were killed or enslaved by Islamic State, but an underground network run by a local businessman led some women and girls to their freedom.

Kate Adie introduces stories from Iraqi Kurdistan's Yazidi community, the streets of Marseille, the former USSR and the Caribbean island of Nevis. 

From 2011 to 2017, the Yazidi minority in Iraq lived in terror, as the community was targeted by Islamic State's fighters for especially brutal repression. The United Nations has said IS committed genocide, as well as multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Yazidis. But as Rachel Wright has seen, those Yazidis who survived captivity and slavery under IS are still finding life extremely tough, trying to eke out a living in tented cities of refugees.

After the mass civil disorder across France, there's passionate debate over the root causes of the revolt on the streets, and what the rioters really wanted. Jenny Hill reports from Marseille on what she heard from residents of the city's vast and decaying Frais Vallon housing project.

Ibrat Safo reveals a personal story of childhood in the former USSR - and making contact again with the woman who helped to raise him. His family were Uzbek, while his nanny was of Uzbek and Ukrainian descent. They grew up together speaking Russian in a provincial Soviet town. So when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he felt an urgent need to track her down, and find out where life has taken her.

And Rob Crossan reveals why the Caribbean island of Nevis hasn't turned much of a profit from its connection with one of America's Founding Fathers - the celebrated Alexander Hamilton.

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Co-Ordinator: Gemma Ashman

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

From Our Own Correspondent

The Yazidis who survived Islamic State

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4