Feisty Female Friday: Nadia Murad

The FFF this week is Nadia Murad.

Nadia was born in Iraq in an area inhabited by the Yazidi people most of who were farmers. She was the youngest of 15 children and dreamed of owning a beauty salon in her hometown. The Yazidi  genocide by the Islamic State changed all of that. She was abducted from her hometown as most of her community was being massacred. Nadia was held in the city of Mosul as an Islamic State sex slave for three months along with thousands of other Yazidi women and girls where she was beaten, burned with cigarettes, and raped repeatedly. Nadia escaped and made her way to a refugee camp in the Kurdistan Region, finally out of ISIS territory, and into freedom in Germany.

Nadia is the founder of Nadia's Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women and children victimized by genocide, mass atrocities, and human trafficking to heal and rebuild their lives and communities. She has also worked with MAG to demine more than 2.6 million square meters of land and to create an investigative team to support efforts to hold ISIS responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Her activism also has focused on accountability, gender equality, and women’s rights as she has aided in the prosecution of ISIL crimes and to end sexual violence in all conflicts.

Nadia and Doctor Denis Mukwege were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. She is the first Iraqi and Yazidi to have been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Nadia has been appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking for the UNODC, founded the Global Survivors Fund, and established the Murad Code.

Her memoir, The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State, is her autobiography in which she describes being captured and enslaved by the Islamic State. Nadia’s numerous accolades recognizing her work include the Sakharov, BBC 100, Havel Human Rights, Clinton Global Citizen, Justice O’Connor, and Global Goals Changemaker Awards.

She lives in Germany with her activist husband and continues to speak out for the people affected by wars worldwide.