On Wednesday evening, an audience at the Oxford Union rose to its feet to give Nadia Murad a five-minute standing ovation. It’s been a busy six months for the 23-year-old Yazidi student and former ISIS sex slave.
She’s been campaigning with her lawyer, Amal Clooney, to prosecute ISIS leaders at the International Criminal Court, has won the EU’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize and was named the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Yet despite her achievements, and the vigorous applause, not even a faint smile flickered across her young face.
For in 2014, Nadia fell victim to the most unimaginable atrocities at the hands of ISIS, purely for being a member of the Yazidi community in Iraq. ‘I was a student in high school when ISIS targeted my village in Kocho,’ she told the crowd. ‘They offered us two options; die or convert to Islam and commit the kind of crimes they were committing. That day 5,000 of my people were killed before my eyes.’
She was kidnapped and subjected to unspeakable crimes. Her mum and six of her nine brothers were shot dead on the spot. Yazidi women were divided into groups of ‘desirable’ and ‘not desirable’ for raping; a mass grave of the latter group was discovered last year by Iraqi troops.
Fortunately, Nadia managed to escape, sought refuge in Germany and has since become a spokesperson for the Yazidi community on the world stage. Displaced, traumatised and grieving the loss of her family, she considers herself among the lucky ones.
Of the 6,000 Yazidi women and children taken during ISIS raids more than 3,500 are still in captivity. ‘Genocide against Yazidis is ongoing and no one is being punished yet,’ she said.
Referring to the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump’s, travel ban - which has temporarily forbidden people from Iraq and six other predominately Muslim countries from travelling to the US - she told Grazia, ‘It’s not fair that my whole country is being held responsible for ISIS in this way. Victims who have suffered slavery and persecution need the west’s support to be able to live as humans again. The US should accept refugees to live securely. Not turn them away.’
She has started a project called Nadia’s Initiative to help women and children victimised by genocide to heal and re-build their lives. ‘We promise to be a global voice for survivors and force the world to listen to their stories,’ she said.
‘Western Governments should do everything they can to defeat brutal murderers and their ideology. If action is not taken soon it could be the start of World War Three. If nothing is done, who knows if the Yazidi people will exist in the future.’