Yazidi Survivor of ISIL Appointed UN Goodwill Ambassador

• by Lindah Mogeni (united nations)
• Wednesday, September 21, 2016
• Inter Press Service

At a ceremony held ahead of the International Day of Peace Murad was appointed as the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. She is the first survivor of human trafficking to hold the position.

In early August 2014 Murad's home town of Kocho in Northern Iraq was attacked by ISIL - also known as ISIS or Daesh.

Murad, who belongs to the Yazidi minority religion, described ISIL's impact as "a nightmare that has struck our society."

ISIL executed men and older women from the village in the attack, including Murad's mother and six of her brothers.

Murad and other women and children were captured as "war-booty" and trade merchandise.

ISIL's attacks on the Yazidis have been described as attempted genocide, since ISIL aims to kill all Yazidis which it describes as infidels.

Murad later escaped in November 2014 when her captor left the door unlocked and a neighboring family smuggled her to a refugee camp, Duhot, in northern Iraq before she sought and was granted asylum in Germany.

Murad's advocacy against ISIL's trafficking of Yazidis later led her to testify before the UN Security Council in December 2015.

"The sole aim of ISIL was to destroy Yazidi identity through forced rape, the recruitment of children and the destruction of our temples," Murad said, describing the Islamic State's action as an orchestrated "collective genocide against Yazidi identity" and religion.

She called for the case of genocide against the Yazidis to be brought before the International Criminal Court and for an international budget to compensate Yazidi victims to be established.

Murad also expressed her wish to witness the liberation of occupied Yazidi territory and urged states to open their societies to Yazidi refugees.

According to the UN Commission of Inquiry on ISIL's June report, some 3200 women and children are currently enslaved by ISIL.

Murad would "bring much needed attention to international efforts to end human trafficking and help keep it on the Security Council's agenda," US Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council Sarah Mendelson said.

The international response should be "commensurate with the scale of human trafficking" said Mendelson, noting that human trafficking generates an estimated 150 billion dollars in revenue annually with over 20 million victims.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described Murad as a "fierce and tireless advocate for the Yazidi people and victims of human trafficking everywhere."

Ban also described the crimes against Yazidis by ISIL as possible genocide.

"The crimes committed by ISIL in Iraq against the Yazidi may constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and even genocide."

He called for the immediate release of thousands of Yazidis being held in captivity.

Human rights barrister, Amal Clooney, who represents Murad, described ISIL's violence towards the Yazidis as a "bureaucracy of evil on an industrial scale."

ISIL have released a pamphlet entitled ‘Questions and Answers on Taking Captives and Slaves' which describes acts such as beating female slaves, raping female slaves who have not reached puberty, buying or selling or gifting female slaves.

Clooney also expressed her disappointment in the UN's failure to stop the ISIL's attacks on the Yazidis.

"I am ashamed as a supporter of the United Nations that states are failing to prevent or even punish genocide because they find their own interests get in the way."

"I am ashamed as a lawyer that there is no justice being done and barely a complaint being made about it."

"I am ashamed as a woman that girls like Nadia can have their bodies sold and used as battlefields."

"I am ashamed as a human being that we ignore their cries for help," said Clooney.

© Inter Press Service (2016) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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