Ezidi survivor initiates football platform campaign to end human trafficking

Kurdish Yezidi (Ezidi) survivor of the Islamic State (IS) and the Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Nadia Murad visited Barcelona and started her first football campaign to support victims of human trafficking.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – On Thursday, Kurdish Yezidi (Ezidi) survivor of the Islamic State (IS) invasion and the Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Nadia Murad visited Barcelona and started her first football campaign to support victims of human trafficking.

Murad who is one of the Ezidi survivors of the genocide IS committed in the Ezidi-populated city of Sinjar (Shingal) visited Barcelona and testified about the crimes of the extremist groups before the Provincial Council of Barcelona.

She also met the President of Barcelona FC Josep Maria Bartomeu and Vice-president Jordi Cardoneri Casaus and received her Barcelona Football Club shirt.

Nadia Murad meets the President of Barcelona FC Josep Maria Bartomeu and Vice-president Jordi Cardoneri Casaus, receiving her Barcelona Football Club shirt, Jan. 12, 2017. (Photo: Nadia Murad Facebook Account)
Nadia Murad meets the President of Barcelona FC Josep Maria Bartomeu and Vice-president Jordi Cardoneri Casaus, receiving her Barcelona Football Club shirt, Jan. 12, 2017. (Photo: Nadia Murad Facebook Account)

“My goal is to make football a platform for supporting victims of human trafficking and minorities [in danger]. The first step started from Barcelona, this historic and incredible Football Club with stunning team and management,” Murad stated on her official Facebook account.

The world-known Ezidi survivor visited Camp Nou Stadium and met Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, the celebrated players of Barcelona FC.

“The support, love, and peace of those super talented players and the happiness of fans in the stadium gave me more energy and hope for my peaceful humanitarian mission. Together, with love, happiness, and peace we can defeat evil,” she said, referring to IS.

Murad believes that sports can play a major role in alleviating pain and stopping vicious crimes like human trafficking.

During her visit to Barcelona, she also met the female team of the club, stating that she will "bring the evil to justice.”

Nadia Murad meeting the female players of Barcelona FC in Barcelona, Spain, Jan. 12, 2017. (Photo: Nadia Murad Facebook Account)
Nadia Murad meeting the female players of Barcelona FC in Barcelona, Spain, Jan. 12, 2017. (Photo: Nadia Murad Facebook Account)

In October 2016, Murad and another Ezidi survivor Lamiya Aji Bashar won the European Parliament’s Sakharov prize for freedom of thought and expression.

IS abducted Murad in 2014 and treated her like a slave. She was among thousands of Ezidi women who were kidnapped and sold as sex slaves under the extremist group rule in Iraq and Syria.

The jihadist group conducted mass execution of Ezidi people, aiming to wipe out the religious sect.

 

Editing by Ava Homa