Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad calls for action against IS

Murad’s comments were part of a speech during a ceremony on Monday where she and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege received the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Yezidi (Ezidi) activist Nadia Murad on Monday called on the international community to act against the Islamic State (IS), which still poses a threat to the ethnoreligious minority group.

Murad’s comments were part of a speech during a ceremony where she and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, for “their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.”

Murad, an Ezidi survivor of the terrorist organization, is the first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking for the United Nations.

“Da’esh has worked in all ways to exterminate… the Ezidi component, by killing men, capturing women, and destroying places of worship,” she said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

The Ezidi survivor was subjected to various kinds of violence by members of the extremist group following its takeover of the city of Sinjar (Shingal) in August 2014. Murad was one of a few women who fled from IS and has since recounted her suffering to the world.

“I hope that today marks the beginning of a new era in which peace is a priority for humankind,” she said.

Murad added that she wanted the sympathies directed at the Ezidis for their sufferings translated into action as “Da’esh still poses a threat” toward the minority group.

“The perpetrators of sexual violence against Ezidi and other women and girls are yet to be prosecuted for these crimes.”

The Kurdistan Region’s Ezidi Rescue Office on Sunday said 3,084 Ezidis remain in IS captivity or their whereabouts are unknown.

“If justice is not done, this genocide will be repeated against us and against other vulnerable communities,” Murad stated.

The emergence of IS and its violent assault on the predominantly Ezidi city of Shingal in 2014 led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Ezidis. Most of them fled to the Kurdistan Region, while others moved to neighboring countries in the region or Western states.

Murad thanked the countries that had recognized the Ezidi genocide and aided them in various ways in the past four years, Canada and Australia for providing a haven for Ezidi refugees, and the UN for its efforts to bring the perpetrators of war crimes in Iraq to justice.

She also thanked the Kurdistan Region for hosting members of their community since 2014.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany