Posts Tagged ‘Kurdish Yazidi’

“On Her Shoulders” tells the story of human rights defender Nadia Murad, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize

October 21, 2018
Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi, survived genocide and sexual slavery committed by ISIS. Repeating her story to the world, this ordinary girl finds herself thrust onto the international stage as the voice of her people. The film “On Her Shoulders” tells the story of Nadia Murad, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, human rights activist, and Yazidi survivor of genocide and human trafficking. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/10/05/breaking-news-see-which-other-awards-the-2018-nobel-peace-prize-laureates-won-already/]

ON HER SHOULDERS Trailer (2018) Nadia Murad Documentary © 2018 – Oscilloscope

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Yazidi human rights laureate may be banned from coming to Washington to accept award

February 1, 2017

The idiocy of Trump’s recent executive orders on immigration is probably not better illustrated than by the case of Vian Dakhil (Yazidi MP in Iraq and ‘Isil’s most-wanted woman’). She may be barred from from coming to Washington to accept the Lantos Human Rights Prize.

Vian Dakhil answers questions during an interview in September 2014 CREDIT: AFP

Vian Dakhil was set to receive the Lantos Human Rights Prize at the US Capitol in Washington DC for her “courageous defence” of the Yazidi people as they faced mass genocide two years ago at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). However, as a carrier of an Iraqi passport she is unlikely to be allowed to enter the country next week despite holding a US visa.  “It is not clear yet if I will travel or not,” Mrs Dakhil, 46, said. “The decision was a complete surprise.” The Lantos foundation dubbed her “ISIS’s most-wanted woman”. She used her position in parliament to inform the world of the atrocities being committed against the Yazidi people

Josh Rogin wrote in the Washington Post of 30 that Vian Dakhil was set to receive the Lantos Human Rights Prize at the U.S. Capitol on 8 February 2017. The prize is given by the foundation named after the late Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who championed human rights for decades while serving in the U.S. Congress. Dakhil’s case is a startling example of how the executive order signed by President Trump is having unintended consequences and ensnaring not only those who have no links to terrorism but also those who have risked their lives to fight terrorism in cooperation with the United States. “It adds a deep level of irony that this award is given in the name of my late father, the only Holocaust survivor ever to be elected to Congress,” said Katrina Lantos Swett, the president of the foundation. “He exemplified how America is strengthened and enriched by immigrants and refugees. I assure you he is turning in his grave at this.”

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Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad wins Vaclav Havel human rights prize 2016

October 18, 2016

Nadia Murad in Strasbourg accepting her award from the Council of Europe

  • Nadia Murad was one of thousands of Yazidi women and girls captured and enslaved by Islamic State in August 2014 – copyright EPA

Iraqi human rights defender Nadia Murad was awarded the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Council of Europe (prize money 60,000 euro). She is a Yazidi woman who was tortured and raped by Islamic State (IS).  The 23-year-old was bought and sold several times, and subjected to sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the jihadists.

Nadia Murad became the face of a campaign to free the Yazidi people and stop human trafficking after escaping IS in November 2014. Miss Murad, who was named a United Nations goodwill ambassador in September, called for the creation of an international court to judge crimes committed by IS extremists in her acceptance speech in Strasbourg. She went on to brand IS’s attack on the Yazidi a “genocide“, adding: “The free world is not reacting.”

 see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/conversation-yanar-mohammed-trafficking-iraq-global-fund-for-women/

and

https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/88-year-old-russian-human-rights-defender-received-2015-vaclav-havel-prize/

Source: Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad wins human rights award – BBC News

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Kurdish Yazidi Woman Wins Anna Politkovskaya Award

October 11, 2014

More on awards: The winner of the 2014 Raw in War Anna Politkovskaya award is Kurdish Yazidi member of Iraq parliament Vian Dakhil .On Monday 6 October, RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR) selected Vian Dakhil who has courageously spoken out and campaigned to protect the Yazidi people from the terror of Islamic State. She is the only ethnic Yazidi in the Iraqi Parliament and, despite being injured in a helicopter crash while delivering aid to survivors on Mt Sinjar, she continues to advocate and to mobilize support for her people, for the refugees and for those trapped in towns and villages under the regime of Islamic State. “I make no secret of the fact that I’m proud to be honored with your esteemed award, but the real way to honor someone is by protecting their freedom and rights. It is by bringing our prisoners back,’ said Dakhil in her speech while receiving the award.

Previous women human rights defenders who received this award: Malala Yousafzai 2013, Marie Colvin 2012, Razan Zaitouneh 2011, Dr. Halima Bashir 2010, Leila Alikarami on behalf of the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality in Iran 2009, Malalai Joya 2008 and Natalia Estemirova 2007. See also: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards

via Kurdish Yazidi Woman Wins International Award | BAS NEWS.

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