An Afternoon with Nadia Murad: A Survivor of ISIS Enslavement and Genocide

In August 2014, while many observers believed the Islamic State’s (ISIS) focus was on Southern Iraq, the organization suddenly shifted its focus to the Kurdish north. On August 3, 2014, ISIS attacked and captured Shingal, a predominant Yazidi town. The sudden offensive did not allow many families in Shingal and surrounding villages the time to escape. Kocho, a village to the south of Shingal was one of the villages that fell into the hands of ISIS.

ISIS fighters rounded up the residents of the village, killed the men and elderly women, and took the younger women captive as sex slaves. The entire population of the village (approximately 400 men and 1000 women and children) were either killed or enslaved. Witnesses recount the horrific moments when the merciless extremists showed up in the village.

Nadia Murad, a senior high school student, 20 years old at the time of the attack, was one of the many women who witnessed the massacre of the residents. “We heard the gunshots when the fighters were shooting our men,” Murad said. The fighters spared Murad’s life in the interest of using her as a slave. After spending three months in slavery, she managed to escape her captors and reach safety. She is now an activist speaking up for many Yazidi women and children who are still held captive.

I invited her to share her story with the S-CAR community. With the help of a non-profit organization, Yazda, she visited the School, where she met with not only students and faculty at S-CAR, but also human rights activists and journalists. A total of five TV channels attended the talk, one of the TV channels broadcast the event live to its viewers in Kurdistan Region of Iraq, while AlHurra TV recorded the entire session for later use in a documentary about Nadia Murad.

Nadia Murad, devastated and terrified by what she witnessed, has decided to "not rest until the story of the Yazidi women are heard." Her mission is now to recount the atrocities in order to raise awareness about what is now recognized as genocide against Yazidis. In addition to sharing her story, Nadia shed light on what needs to be done to help survivors like herself and many other Yazidis who have been victimized. In the response to a question on what can one do to help, she replied, “There are many ways to help. We have many women and children who have survived and now live in refugee camps, any help would be appreciated.”

Murad said she was glad that the United States government and the European Union have recognized the massacre as genocide, but she will continue to press for “Getting rid of ISIS and restoring safety to the Yazidi community” and putting in place some sort of measures to prevent such atrocities from recurring. “This is not the first time massacres take place against the Yazidis” she said, “And this massacre was not carried out by just a group of ISIS fighters, we saw our neighbors turning against us just because we were Yazidis. We have lost trust.” 

Here is a link to the event video: scar.gmu.edu/event/life-under-isis-yazidi-womans-story-of-surviving-enslavement

### Photo: Nadia Murad Basee Taha, an Iraqi woman of the Yazidi faith, bows her head after telling her story during the Security Council meeting Maintenance of international peace and security Trafficking in persons in situations of conflict.
Photo: Flickr User UN Photo/ Amanda Voisard.