Nadia Murad

At the age of 19, Murad was a student living in the village of Kocho in Sinjar, northern Iraq when Islamic State fighters rounded up the Yazidi community in the village, killing 600 people – including her mother and six of Nadia's brothers and stepbrothers – and taking the younger women and girls into slavery. That year, Murad was one of more than 6,700 Yazidi women and girls taken prisoner by Islamic State in Iraq.[13] She was captured on 15 August 2014.[14] She was held as a slave in the city of Mosul, where she was beaten, burned with cigarettes, and raped repeatedly. She successfully escaped after her captor left the house unlocked.[14] Murad was taken in by a neighboring family, who were able to smuggle her out of the Islamic State controlled area, allowing her to make her way to a refugee camp in Duhok, Kurdistan Region.[15] She was out of ISIS territory in early September[16] or in November 2014.[14]

In February 2015, she gave her first testimony – under the alias of "Basima" – to reporters of the Belgian daily newspaper La Libre Belgique while she was staying in the Rwanga camp, living in a converted shipping container.[16] In 2015, she was one of 1,000 women and children to benefit from a refugee programme of the Government of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, which became her new home.[17][18]

Human Rights panel in Vienna in 2018: left to right: 1 Abid Shamdeen 2 Nadia Murad 3 Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein 4 Karin Kneissl 5 Michael O'Flaherty 6 Hauwa Ibrahim 7 Max Schrems 8 Susana Chiarotti

On 16 December 2015, Murad spoke to the United Nations Security Council about human trafficking and conflict. This was the first time the Council was ever briefed on human trafficking.[12][19] In 2016, Murad was named the first UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. As part of her role as an ambassador, Murad participates in global and local advocacy initiatives to bring awareness of human trafficking and refugees.[20] Murad has reached out to refugee and survivor communities, listening to testimonies of victims of trafficking and genocide.[21]

In September 2016, Attorney Amal Clooney spoke before the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to discuss the decision that she had made in June 2016[22] to represent Murad as a client in legal action against ISIL commanders.[20][21][23] Clooney characterized the genocide, rape, and trafficking by ISIL as a "bureaucracy of evil on an industrial scale", describing it as a slave market existing online, on Facebook and in the Mideast that is still active today.[13] Murad has received serious threats to her safety as a result of her work.[12]

Poster of Nadia Murad speaking to the UN Security Council at the Yazidi Temple of Lalish, Ninawa

In September 2016, Murad announced Nadia's Initiative at an event hosted by Tina Brown in New York City. The Initiative intends to provide advocacy and assistance to victims of genocide.[24]

On 3 May 2017, Murad met Pope Francis and Archbishop Gallagher in Vatican City. During the meeting, she "asked for help for Yazidis who are still in ISIS captivity, acknowledged the Vatican support for minorities, discussed the scope for an autonomous region for minorities in Iraq, highlighted the current situation and challenges facing religious minorities in Iraq and Syria particularly the victims and internally displaced people as well as immigrants".[25]

In 2018, Murad's activism focused on security and accountability. Along Nadia's Initiative, Murad worked with the Mine's Advisory Group (MAG) to demine more than 2.6 million square meters of land in Sinjar, Iraq. She was also instrumental in drafting and passing UN Security Council Resolution 2379. The resolution called for the creation of an Investigative Team, headed by a Special Advisor, to support domestic efforts to hold ISIL (Da'esh) accountable by collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq of acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed by the terrorist group ISIL (Da'esh).

Murad's activism focused on accountability and gender equality in 2019, as she aided in the prosecution of an ISIL militant's wife in Germany and the collection of evidence of ISIL crimes. Murad worked with the German Mission to the UN to help draft and pass UN Security Council Resolution 2467 in April 2019. The resolution expands the UN's commitments to end sexual violence in conflict and emphasizes a survivor-centric approach to justice and accountability. Murad also took part in advocating for G7 member states to adopt legislation that protects and promotes women's rights as a member of France's Gender Advisory Council.

Murad urged the government of the Iraqi Kurdistan region to play its role in rebuilding Yazidi areas in Sinjar District and returning the refugees back home. Nechirvan Barzani announced his full support “to the humanitarian role she plays in service of peace and the Yazidi victims,” said the statement.[26][27]

In 2019, Murad addressed the second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom[28] where she spoke about her story and the ongoing challenges faced by Yazidis nearly five years after the 3 August 2014 attacks. She laid out a "five-point plan of action" to address the challenges Yazidis face in Iraq.[29][30] Murad was included among a delegation of survivors of religious persecution from around the world whose stories were highlighted at the summit.[31] As part of the delegation, on 17 July 2019, Murad met with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office with whom she shared her personal story of having lost her family members, including her mother and six brothers, and pleaded with him to do something.[32]

In 2020, Murad began working with the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) and the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) of the United Kingdom government to establish the Murad Code. The Code is a global consultative initiative aimed at building and supporting a community of better practice for, with, and concerning survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. Its key objective is to respect and support survivors' rights, ensuring work with survivors to investigate, document, and record their experiences is safer, more ethical, and more effective in upholding their human rights.[33]

On 6 February 2021, the Yazidi community buried 104 victims of the Kocho massacre, including two of Nadia's brothers and. The ceremony was marked by both grief and closure, as many survivors were finally able to lay their family members to rest over six years after the genocide. It was also a visceral reminder of the urgent need to exhume all mass graves throughout Sinjar. In March 2021, the Iraqi Parliament passed the long-awaited Yazidi Female Survivors Law. The law formally acknowledges the Yazidi genocide and the gender-based trauma of sexual violence against Yazidi women and other ethnic minorities. It lays the groundwork for paying reparations, and guarantees land and job opportunities for survivors of ISIL captivity. Murad worked with Iraqi authorities and the Coalition for Just Reparations to draft and advocate for the law, as well as its ongoing implementation.[34]

In May 2021, the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIL (UNITAD) presented landmark findings to the UN Security Council. UNITAD's Special Advisor, Karim Khan, reported to the Security Council that "there is clear and convincing evidence that the crimes against the Yazidi people clearly constituted genocide." Murad joined the proceedings to call on member states to establish international trials and support national efforts to prosecute ISIL members for their crimes of genocide and sexual violence.

In November 2021, a scheduled book club event in Canada with Nadia as a speaker was boycotted by the superintendent at the Toronto District School Board Helen Fisher, who declared the students from her school would not participate over fear of offending Islamic students and fostering Islamophobia. The move drew wide criticism, and the board was forced to clarify that these views were not their official position.[35]

In 2022, Murad, along with Nadia's Initiative, the Institute for International Criminal Investigation, and the UK government, released the Murad Code. She spoke about its benefits at the United Nations Security Council open debate on "Accountability as Prevention: Ending Cycles of Sexual Violence in Conflict Open Debate on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence."

Murad's memoir, The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State, was published by Crown Publishing Group on 7 November 2017, which is an autobiographical in which she describes being captured and enslaved by the Islamic State.[37][38] The book has been released in 44 languages including French (Pour que je sois la dernière), German (Ich bin eure Stimme: Das Mädchen, das dem Islamischen Staat entkam und gegen Gewalt und Versklavung kämpft), Arabic (الفتاة الاخيرة: قصتي مع الأسر ومعركتي ضد تنظيم داعش), Italian (L'ultima ragazza), and Spanish (Yo seré la última: Historia de mi cautiverio y mi lucha contra el Estado Islámico).

"Outraged by the Attacks on Yazidis? It Is Time to Help." The New York Times, 10 February 2018.[39]

"I was an Isis sex slave. I tell my story because it is the best weapon I have." The Guardian, 6 October 2018.[40]

"Prioritizing ISIS over survivors?" Thomas Reuters Foundation, 12 March 2019.[41]

"UN Security Council should stand in solidarity with survivors of rape in conflict." Thomas Reuters Foundation, 23 April 2019.[42]

"My people were massacred five years ago. The genocide continues." Washington Post, 31 July 2019.[43]

"I am a survivor of Islamic State violence. Don't forget us." Washington Post, 4 April 2019.[44]

"Seeking Justice and Dignity for Survivors." UN Chronicle, 9 December 2019.[45]

"We must protect women from sexual violence during coronavirus lockdown and beyond." Thomas Reuters Foundation, 19 May 2020.[46]

"Yazidis have been forgotten during Covid. They need justice, jobs and a return home." The Guardian, 24 February 2021.[47]

"America, Take a Stand for Yazidis." Newsweek, 4 June 2021.[48]

"ISIS slaughtered my Yazidi community. We don't want your pity -- we want justice." CNN, 16 August 2021.[49]

Murad and Denis Mukwege receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018

In 2018, Murad was co-winner (with Denis Mukwege, an African gynaecologist) of the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for the efforts of both people to end sexual violence as a weapon of war. The press release from the prize committee cited her refusal to remain 'silent and ashamed', and spoke of her courage in highlighting her own ordeal and that of other victims.[53]

• 2016: First Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking of the United Nations[13][54]
• 2016: Council of Europe Václav Havel Award for Human Rights[55]
• 2016: Glamour Award for The Women Who Stood Up to ISIS
• 2016: Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (with Lamiya Haji Bashar)[56][57][58]
• 2016: Clinton Global Citizen Award[59]
• 2016: United Nations Association of Spain Peace Prize[60]
• 2016: TIME 100 Most Influential People[61]
• 2016: Oxi Courage Award[62]
• 2017: Forbes 30 Under 30[63]
• 2018: Nobel Peace Prize (with Denis Mukwege)[64]
• 2018: Hillary Clinton Award for Advancing Women in Peace and Security[65]
• 2018: Global Goals Changemaker Award[66]
• 2018: Elisabeth B. Weintz Humanitarian Award[67]
• 2019: Bambi Award[68]
• 2019: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement[69][70]
• 2019: International DVF Award[71]
• 2019: Seton Hall University Honorary Doctorate[72]
• 2019: Marisa Bellisario International Prize[73]
• 2020: Vital Voices Global Trailblazer Award[74]
• 2020: Justice O'Connor Prize[75]
• 2020: Frank and Cheri Hermance Atlas Award[76]
• 2021: UC Merced Spendlove Prize[77]
• 2022: Chapman University Presidential Fellow[78]