Kurdish activist wins Global Citizen Prize Award in UK
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Payzee Mahmod, a survivor of child marriage and campaigner for the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) won the Global Citizen Prize in the UK on Wednesday.
The Global Citizen Prize celebrates changemakers “who are taking exceptional actions to end extreme poverty.”
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— Payzee (@PayzeeMalika) May 11, 2022
I am thrilled to announce that I have been awarded the #GCPrize Citizen Award UK by @GlblCtznUK for my work with @IKWRO in supporting women and girls around the world, working to end harmful practices including child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM) & more. pic.twitter.com/5aST6w15kE
“I am thrilled to announce that I have been awarded the #GCPrize Citizen Award UK by @GlblCtznUK for my work with @IKWRO in supporting women and girls around the world, working to end harmful practices including child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM) & more.”
Payzee Mahmod has worked as a campaigner focused on ending harmful practices, including child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), virginity testing, and hymenoplasty in the United Kingdom.
At the age of 16, Payzee Mahmod was forced by her family to marry a man twice her age.
She is also the sister of Banaz (20), from south London, who was raped and killed in 2006.
“Drawing on her own lived experiences and the loss of her sister Banaz in a so-called ‘honor’ killing, Payzee Mahmod has been working to raise awareness,” the website of Global Citizen UK said.
Payzee was an influential advocate for the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Bill, which sought to raise the legal age of marriage to 18. The bill was passed by the UK parliament in April. Previously, it was legal for children under 18 to be wed, and children could be taken abroad for marriage.
The goal of the bill was to ensure that no form of child marriage would be legal in the UK.