Nadia Murad was born into a farming family in Kojo, Iraq. She belongs to the Yazidi ethnic and religious minority. When she was 19 years old, the Islamic State attacked her village and killed 600 Yazidi men, including several of her family members.
Murad and other young women were taken prisoner and subjected to beatings and rape. She managed to escape, however, and make her way to a refugee camp. There she was offered the opportunity to move to Germany, where she now lives.
She was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2018 alongside Denis Mukwege for ”their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.”
On October 30, 2019, Nadia and Dennis set up a fund to provide reparations for survivors of wartime rape.
The Global Survivors Fund will provide tailored support to help people recover from the emotional and physical trauma they have experienced. This could be in the form of financial compensation, support to access healthcare services or return to education, or assistance with getting somewhere to live.
The fund will also support governments to set up their own reparation schemes.
Commenting on the development, Nadia said ”Reparations are a step toward restoring dignity to survivors who often do not have any means to seek justice for the pain and suffering they have endured.”
”A global fund is an innovative solution to providing survivors with a path towards healing, and it signals that our collective conscience acts in the name of humanity.”
Source: Nobel Prize.org, Guardian
