A 21-year-old survivor of Islamic State (ISIS) has met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop this week, in a bid to have ISIS’s crimes referred to the international court for prosecution.
Nadia Murad, who travelled to Australia earlier this week, was just a teenager when ISIS took control of her village in Iraq.
But within days of attacking, her mother and six brothers had been murdered along with 4000 other Yazidi people from the village. Around 6000 women and children – including Murad – were captured.
“It’s difficult to express my feeling and tell you how much we suffered … how they forced us to convert, how they sold us … how they raped us, how they abused us physically, sexually and psychologically,” Murad told the ABC.
ISIS survivor Nadia Murad. Source: Nadia Murad / Facebook.
Bought and sold as a sex slave between ISIS members for three months after the attack on her village, Murad eventually managed to escape.
Since then, she has campaigned tirelessly for the recognition of the crimes against her people, travelling the world to meet with global leaders.
"Those criminals have been enslaving, they are enslaving Yazidi women … and they are committing all type of crimes — genocide crimes, crimes against humanity, war crimes," Murad said.
"And they are reaching also Europe and Western countries such as Belgium, Germany, France and even [the] USA."
One of the oldest religious groups in the world, the Yazidis have a population of approximately 600,000 world wide, but have been under attack from ISIS since 2014, with many wanting the murders recognised as genocide.
ISIS survivor Nadia Murad with Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop. Source: Julie Bishop / Twitter.
Sharing a photo of herself with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister following the meeting on Facebook, Murad wrote, "It was my honor to meet today the Australian Prime Minister Mr Malcolm Turnbull and the Australian Foreign Minister Mrs Julie Bishop. I would like to deeply thank the government of Australia and the Australian nation for their strong support to my global mission."
Murad also spoke at the University of Queensland on Wednesday night, sharing the history of her people and her incredible story of survival.
Top Comments
Nadia, I am so sorry you had to endure what you had to endure. I hope that youre afforded beautiful things from here on in. I'll be following you on Facebook from here on in. What can we as lay people do to help your cause?
This is a holocaust for the Yazidi people. Thank you MM for giving her a voice. Please keep us updated on her mission.