Trigger warning: Please note that this article contains a discussion of heavy themes, including but not limited to sexual assault, abuse, and violence. Please visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) for resources to help you or anyone you know who may need it.
Seton Hall University welcomed back Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist Nadia Murad for the School of Diplomacy and International Relations’ Public World Leaders Forum on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
Murad grew up in Kocho, a village in northern Iraq, with dreams of becoming a teacher or owning a beauty salon. On Aug. 15, 2014, ISIS attacked her Yazidi community. In the genocide that followed, she lost her mother and six brothers, and the militants took the women as sex slaves.
Murad was captured and held in captivity for three months before managing to escape and flee to Germany.
“I was displaced in a camp with more than 12,000 people,” Murad said. “Every day, I felt so visible in that camp because of what happened to me, yet I felt also invisible because I felt like nothing. I had a story, and a lot of people pointed fingers at me.”
From then on, Murad has dedicated her life to advocacy for those impacted by human trafficking and sex crimes across the globe.
In 2016, she started Nadia’s Initiative, an organization dedicated to ending women’s use as weapons of war and ensuring survivors’ voices are heard.
In the same year, she became the first goodwill ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking in the United Nations (U.N.) Office on Drug and Crimes. Murad has held this position for the past eight years but recently announced she is stepping down to continue her advocacy work.
In 2017, she released her first book, The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State, a memoir detailing her escape to safety.
Murad became a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2018 alongside Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege for their work towards creating the Global Survivors Fund. Murad became the first Iraqi and Yazidi to receive this honor.
Her advocacy work throughout the years led her to SHU. In 2019, Murad delivered a keynote address on human trafficking, slavery, and ways to combat these atrocities.
Courtney Smith, dean of the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, gave Murad her honorary doctorate for the address, which he discussed during his introduction at the beginning of Wednesday’s forum.
“It was my first official act as dean,” Smith said. “At the time I said I could not imagine a more fitting or worthy recipient for such an honor. Nadia’s work over the ensuing five years reinforces that judgment in my mind.”
After Smith’s introduction of Murad, the Public World Leaders Forum began with the student panelists’ questions. She addressed numerous issues regarding her advocacy work, ranging from human trafficking to her experiences as a survivor.
Murad first spoke about the importance of justice for those impacted by these acts of violence.
“For them to understand justice, it is a very simple way and personal,” Murad said. “When I am with them, they want the remains of their husbands and other loved ones to be identified and buried with dignity. They also want the rest of their children.”
Justice is a recurring theme for Murad throughout her work, for herself and in her advocacy for others. She said that she believes there is one commonality that ties together those in her situation or a similar one, no matter where they are in the world.
“Throughout this work, I have met survivors, for example from Ukraine, Sudan, Kosovo, Congo,” Murad said. “And even though our experiences are different…something we have in common as survivors, no matter who they are, is to have our day in court.”
Murad described the journey she took to begin processing the grief that she and many of these survivors have experienced.
“With ISIS, for example, rape was used, in their view, to leave a permanent mark on our community and they did succeed with it,” Murad said. “No matter how many times you share and how much justice you get, rape is unlike any other thing because it just lives in your soul, in your mind, and in your bones and you have to deal with it when it gets a little bit easier.”
Ten years later, Murad is still on her healing journey. However, she has developed a different perspective on her experiences as time goes on.
“[People] have been spread and trafficked all over,” Murad said. “After I learned it was so common, rape during war, I don’t think I can go back and take the blame or shame. I think it’s on those who failed us and those who committed against us.”
Following this, the conversation shifted towards the impact of living as a displaced person.
Murad said there are reports of 120 million people internally displaced as of today. Many of those displaced live in camps for a multitude of reasons. These camps, Murad described, have become housing for extended periods.
“Generations are growing up in the camps,” Murad said. “I know camps are important when there is a disaster or an emergency, like what is happening for example in Gaza or Sudan, but not for decades. Not for people to raise generations of children there. It is not sustainable.”
These camps have become long-lasting and semi-permanent because of a lack of international efforts, according to Murad.
“Just last year, Germany decided to send people back,” Murad said. “A lot of Yazidis have been sent back to the camps, even before their homeland has been rebuilt…We think it is impossible to rebuild post-conflict regions and focus on sustainable solutions, which is a mistake—it is possible.”
Murad explained how although these issues have been gaining “more awareness” in the “past 10 years,” they continue to persist, saying that she wishes more solutions were being implemented.
Another topic Murad brought attention to is gender equality, which she believes can “reduce violence against women during times of peace and times of war.”
To achieve this, Murad visits places where the inequality stems from, specifically religious institutions.
“A large part of my work advocacy includes meeting with religious leaders and world leaders and working with the U.N. to establish stronger protections of women’s rights,” Murad said. “But also, when we have them, it is so important to advocate so the country can implement them.”
She said she believes this can help make it harder for groups like ISIS to take advantage of inequality.
As the student panel questions ended, Smith opened the discussion to members of the audience.
During the event, Murad told The Setonian about the most significant challenges she faced when advocating for the Yazidis.
“I think the most difficult challenge was the Yazidis were not introduced to the world in the way we wanted to be,” Murad said. “People didn’t know about us. Even though we’ve gone through so much and ISIS was just one group. But before ISIS, throughout our history, people didn’t know much about it.”
Another question from the audience prompted a discussion on the role of the United States’s intervention in these conflicts.
“I’ve been working with the U.S. government, with the previous administration, with this administration,” Murad said. “I think the U.S. role is so important and especially in countries like Iraq, when they have had a long history.”
The U.S.’s role, she explained, can aid those impacted. However, they have to focus on the people themselves.
“What is really important and what I think the U.S. government can do more is when it comes to justice and accountability,” Murad said. “And also working with the community that have been directly impacted by these conflicts and not through the government.”
With Murad’s advocacy, she wants people to remember that she is “not just a story on stage.”
“I had a whole life before what happened to me,” Murad said. “I was raised by a perfect family who, despite being so poor, provided everything they could for me.”
Murad added that future generations can help continue her influence and make strides for change in the right direction.
“There is so much young people can do,” Murad said. “Especially those who have access to information and the freedom to share their voices. It’s important, for example, to reach out to those who have stories that you care about, and you try to learn about them.”
However, she said she doesn’t want people to focus solely on seeking power. Instead, Murad encourages others to educate those around them.
“With the younger generation sometimes, their question is that they really want to go to powerful places to make [a] change, but I think it’s so important to know that sometimes you can make [a] change by finding the people that believe in your passion, in your story,” Murad said.
Kaelyn Blizard is a writer for The Setonian’s News section. She can be reached at kaelyn.blizard@student.shu.edu.
