FRANCE

France welcomes Yazidi women and children fleeing IS group

Video by: Andrew HILLIAR

The first 16 Yazidi women enslaved by the IS group in Iraq and Syria landed with their children at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Thursday, part of a refugee welcome programme that aims to provide shelter to some 100 women by next year. French President Emmanuel Macron announced the programme in October during a meeting with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, herself a Yazidi victim of the jihadist group. Murad was present at the airport on Thursday to greet the newcomers. “These women are looking for peace and they are feeling comfortable now because they know that France is a country that wants peace,” she said. “They will be safe here because it's a country that respects the law.”