BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government and the United Nations are working together to establish a museum documenting Islamic State (IS) atrocities against the Yazidi religious minority in Sinjar. 

The idea stemmed from a 2018 visit by representatives of UNESCO and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq to the village of Kocho in the Sinjar district of Ninevah province. Residents had requested a memorial in the village. Their request was approved.

So far, at least 67 mass graves left behind by IS have been found in Sinjar, said Mohammed Taher al-Tamimi, Iraq's director of nongovernmental organizations at the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. He hopes to see the first Yazidi museum in contemporary history.

In cooperation with UNESCO's office for Iraq, Tamimi's department organized a Feb. 18 meeting of experts in Baghdad. The meeting was designed to “ponder with the experts, and international and domestic stakeholders, a systematic approach to decide on an adequate concept for the Yazidi memorial monument." The group studied memorials built in various countries as examples.