In 2011, Rex Tillerson, then President of Exxon, signed an agreement with the Kurdish Government to allow for oil drilling on Yezidi lands.. illegal under Iraqi law because the Iraqi Constitution states that land decisions must involve the indigenous populations...

In 2013, Exxon employed local security forces which fired upon Yezidi activists, killing two of them. The local Kurdish Government and Exxon refused take any action. They turned a blind eye to any claim that Yezidis had for their ancestral land and bought land seized from the Yezidis.

It is estimated that between 2011 and 2013 that over 5,000 Yezidi were forced from their lands so that Exxon could conduct oil drilling...