Johnson Remarks After Meeting with Yazidi Woman

Statement

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made these remarks after hearing first-hand of the brutality of ISIS fighters, particularly toward women and religious minorities, as told by a young Yazidi woman identified only as "Bazi" who escaped from captivity in Syria:

"Bazi bravely has given a detailed and gruesome account of how she was kidnapped, sold for $40, enslaved, and treated like property until her courageous escape. She is in America to share her story and remind our government of the United States' singular importance in protecting people who have no other recourse. We must work with our coalition partners to develop a strategy to defeat ISIS and stop these atrocities.

"I am planning to introduce legislation in the Senate calling upon the president to use the United States' voice and vote in the United Nations Security Council to condemn the ongoing sexual violence by ISIS militants against women and children from Yazidi, Christian, Shabak, Turkmen and other religious communities as crimes against humanity and to prosecute all perpetrators and those complicit in these crimes."

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