BAGHDAD: The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to renowned gynecologist Denis Mukwege and Yezidi (Ezidi) human rights activist, Nadia Murad, for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.
The award was announced Friday at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. The recipient is chosen by a committee of five people elected by the Norwegian Parliament.
There were 331 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 the second highest number ever. Of those, 216 were individuals and 115 were organizations, according to Nobel organizers.
The 25-year-old Nadia, her thin, pale face framed by her long brown hair, once lived a quiet life in her village near the mountainous Yazidi stronghold of Sinjar in northern Iraq, close to the border with Syria.
Nadia Murad is a 24-year-old Yezidi woman who advocates on behalf of her community and survivors of genocide.New Iraqi President Barham Salih, a Kurd, stated he received the news with the “utmost happiness.”
She was awarded the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Council of Europe in 2016 and called for an international court to judge crimes committed by IS in her acceptance speech in Strasbourg.
Nadia, the first Iraqi to win the award, was named the UN’s first goodwill ambassador for survivors of human trafficking later that year.
The Yezidi homeland of Shingal remains a disputed or Kurdistani area claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil more than four years afterwards.
“I share this award with all Yezidis, Iraqis, Kurds, other persecuted minorities and all of the countless victims of sexual violence around the world,” Murad said in a statement.
She was among the thousands of Ezidi women who were abducted and enslaved by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS). She was repeatedly raped and spent approximately one month in captivity.
Nadia suffered the loss of six of her nine brothers who were slaughtered by IS in the Kocho massacre. Thousands of Ezidi men and older Ezidi women were murdered, including Nadia’s mother.
Nadia was also the recipient of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize, the Sakharov Prize, and the UN’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.
Iraqi parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi said the honour given to Murad is a “real and realistic recognition of the sacrifices Iraq has and is giving on behalf of the world.”
He described Murad as an “icon for patience, sacrifice and bravery, and one of the symbols of rejecting oppression and tyranny.”
The UN special envoy for Iraq, Jan Kubis, said Murad had shown “heroism, bravery and resilience in the face of her torturers and abusers” and that the award was a tribute to all Yazidis and other Iraqis who suffered at the hands of ISIS.
