This August 3rd marks the two-year anniversary of the brutal attack of the Yazidi people in Sinjar Province in the Northern region of Iraq, Two years since IS or ISIL (also known as ISIS or Daesh) stormed towns, villages, and historic homelands of the ethno-religious group, killing over 5,000 men and elders, enslaving over 7,000 women and children and displacing over 400,000 more. Two years since the humanitarian crisis in which thousands of internally displaced Yazidis were trapped on Sinjar Mountain, surrounded by Isis fighters determined to exterminate the indigenous group, dying of exposure and dehydration. Two years since the ongoing genocide of the Yazidi people began, including the desecration of homes, holy sites and women’s bodies.
The recently published Chilcot report in the UK, which revealed that former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and his major allies – including former US President George Bush had illegally waged war in Iraq in March 2003 and militarily occupied it – further reiterates the connection that the Iraq War contributed to the rise of IS or ISIL in the region.
Nadia Murad is a 23-year-old victim of Isil’s crimes in Iraq and one of the thousands of Yazidi women who were abducted and enslaved by IS or ISIL. She was brutally raped by more than 12 members over a period of three months and was among the more than 5,000 Yazidi women taken captive when IS or ISIL swept through the group’s communities in Northern Iraq. After her escape, Nadia spoke out about her horrific experiences at the hands of IS or ISIL fighters to draw attention to the ongoing genocide. She has described how she and other young women were forced to pray before they were raped, and how they were treated as they were bought and sold like “sabia” – slaves.
“We were not worth the value of animals. They raped girls in groups, They did what a mind could not imagine. They commit rape and genocide crimes in the name of Islam. When they took me to Mosul to rape me, I forgot about my mother and brothers. Because what they were doing to the women was more difficult than death” – Nadia Murad
YAZDA is a global Yazidi organization who provides support for the victims of the genocide.
ON AUGUST 3, WE CALL ON THE WORLD TO SHOW SOLIDARITY FOR NADIA MURAD AND THE THOUSANDS OF YAZIDI WOMEN AND GIRLS SOLD AND CAPTURED AS SEX SLAVES – AND CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF THE CAPTURED 3,000 YAZIDI WOMEN.
WE CALL ON THE WORLD TO HONOR THE GENOCIDAL ATTACK ON SINJAR TWO YEARS AGO. WE AS A GLOBAL COMMUNITY, MUST KEEP THEIR STORIES AND THEIR SITUATION VISIBLE WITH THE STRENGTH OF OUR SOLIDARITY.
ORGANIZE SOLIDARITY EVENTS AND ACTION IN YOUR COMMUNITIES. Here are some suggested actions:
MARCHES. VIGILS. WALKS. SOLIDARITY VIDEOS AND PHOTOS
SHOW YOUR SOLIDARITY ONLINE ON SOCIAL MEDIA. LETS FILL THE GLOBE ONLINE WITH OUR SUPPORT FOR OUR YAZIDI SISTERS AND OUR DEMAND FOR JUSTICE FOR THEM.
The Yazidi ethno-religious group is one the oldest in Mesopotamia, with a current population of around 600,000 in Iraq of which 400,000 inhabited the district of Sinjar and 200,000 lived elsewhere in Nineveh and Dohuk Province prior to the events of August 3rd, 2014. On that day, IS or ISIL (also known as ISIS or Daesh) brutally attacked and occupied the Sinjar area after Iraqi Kurdish Forces (Peshmarga) abruptly withdrew. The fall of Sinjar led to the chaotic exodus of all Yazidis from Sinjar District where at least 150,000 fled to the autonomous Kurdish Region and thousands became entrapped on Mt. Sinjar and its adjacent villages.
The surrounded Yazidis endured grim conditions with little food or water for many days. Many more people, mostly children, infants and the elderly, died of dehydration and exposure during their ordeal on the mountain and the evacuation process.
This catastrophe displaced the vast majority of the Sinjar District population to Iraqi Kurdistan, Syrian Kurdistan, and Turkey. Moreover, Yazidis from the Nineveh plain towns of Bashiqa, Bahzani, Mahad, Shikhan and other villages were forced to flee as well when their areas left undefended. The displaced Yazidi community continues to face a humanitarian crisis; tens of thousands are homeless and unsupported and suffer from malnutrition and health issues. Yazidi children are the most vulnerable group. Since the beginning of this crisis, IS or ISIL has murdered more than 3,000 Yazidi men and sold thousands of Yazidi women into sexual slavery. They has also committed crimes of rape and sexual violence against thousands of Yazidi women and children in captivity. The group abducted at least 5000 Yazidis during their assault on Sinjar, mostly women and children and has relocated abductees to different regions where they are offered for sale as sexual slaves. To date, dozens of women have been killed in captivity while many others have committed suicide.
“The attack of ISIS is rooted in recent history. It is the direct result of all the politics that came into Iraq with the occupation. The US empowered the Shi’a Islamic political groups and marginalised a big part of the country who were recognised as Sunni people. It was only to be expected that the next step would be for the sectarian religious dynamics to surface, for one religious group to be fighting another religious group. The leading members of ISIS were either tortured in US military prisons or in the prisons of the Shi’a government which the Americans put in place. When you torture a person for long periods you might get a very passionate human rights defender but most probably you will get a beast whose only concern is to seek his revenge in the best way possible. And that’s what happened with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who was in Bucca prison, being tortured by the Americans and being prepared for his next role in life, head of ISIS. Before 2003, none of us knew which part of the country was Sunni and which part was Shi’a. This was something new to Iraq and we are reaping the results at this point. Women’s wellbeing has paid the price.” – YANAR MOHAMMED (Founder of OWFI – Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and a V-Day/ One Billion Rising activists:
“ISIS has committed the crime of genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Yazidis, thousands of whom are held captive in the Syrian Arab Republic where they are subjected to almost unimaginable horrors.ISIS has sought to destroy the Yazidis through killings; sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forcible transfer. The public statements and conduct of ISIS and its fighters clearly demonstrate that ISIS intended to destroy the Yazidis of Sinjar, composing the majority of the world’s Yazidi population, in whole or in part.”
UN Report on Yazidi Genocide
STATISTICAL SNAPSHOTS:
Beginning on August 3, 2014 IS or ISIL attacked Yazidi communities in the Mount Sinjar area.
The largest known massacre took place in Kocha, where nearly every man over the age of was killed – reportedly 400 executions.
To date:
5,000 Yazidis killed
7,000 Yazidis abducted
400,000 Yazidis displaced
2,576 women and children have escaped or been rescued from ISIL enslavement.
Approximately 1,600 former IS or ISIL enslaved victims remain in Iraq, while the rest are receiving treatment in Germany.
According to female survivors of IS or ISIL enslavement, hundreds of Yazidi women have committed suicide to avoid further raping from islamic state militants.
Most recently, 19 Yazidi girls were placed in cages and burned alive for refusing to have sex with their islamic state captors.
ONE BILLION RISING calls on global OBR activists to rise with and for our Yazidi sisters in solidarity.
OBR calls for the financial support of YAZDA who directly assist and help Yazidi women in Iraq and those displaced as refugees abroad. TheY provide shelter, counseling, food, clothing, psychological treatment, aid work to the women and girls – and also do educational work, genocide documentation and advocacy campaigns to keep sustained attention on the issue in the Yazidi women’s fight for survival and justice.
In particular, we would like to call for financial support for YAZDA’s Psychosocial Treatment and Trauma Support Center
In March 2015, Yazda set up a center in Kurdish-controlled Dohuk, northern Iraq, to address the extensive systematic abuse and sexual violence suffered by Yazidi women and girls held in IS or ISIL captivity.
This psychosocial treatment and trauma support center aims to simultaneously address the following:
Ensures victims receive urgent medical care and hospital treatment for sexual and physical violence endured;
Ensures victims receive counseling and trauma support through the center directly, or through referral to a specialist organization if unable to meet the individualized needs of every victim;
Organizes pilgrimages for survivors to the holy temple of Lalish, where they meet the Yazidi religious leader, Baba Sheikh, who stresses a positive message of healing and acceptance to the survivors, emphasizing that they are valued members of the Yazidi community;
Provides education and training in marketable skills to help victims reclaim their lives and assist them in moving towards self-sufficiency and independence;
Fosters relationships and partnerships with other organizations, local agencies, and surrounding communities to hold activities and facilitate survivors’ reintegration into society.
As a global movement to end violence against women and children, One Billion Risings demands an end to all wars and military occupation by US and other Western forces which CAUSE, PERPETUATE AND KEEP THIS VIOLENCE IN PLACE.
OBR calls on the global media to keep highlighting the violence inflicted on of women caused by wars and occupation, and to report on the roots and causes of these wars so that global pressure can be used to hold the perpetrators of these wars accountable.
OBR calls on citizens of the world to RISE for JUSTICE for Nadia Murad and the Yazidi women in their call to secure accountability for the genocide, sexual enslavement and trafficking of their women and girls by IS or ISIL in Iraq.
OBR calls on the world to support their legal efforts to achieve accountability from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and for the prosecution of the crimes committed against Nadia Murad and the Yazidi community.
DEMAND AN END TO THE YAZIDI GENOCIDE!
DEMAND AN END TO THE ENSLAVEMENT AND SYSTEMATIC RAPES OF YAZIDI WOMEN!
DEMAND FOR LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITY!
RISE ON AUGUST 3 WITH SOLIDARITY ACTIONS TO HONOR THE GENOCIDAL ATTACK ON THE YAZIDI COMMUNITY – SO THAT IT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!
RISE TO DEMAND THE RELEASE OF THE CAPTURED 3,000 YAZIDI WOMEN1
(YAZDA, a global Yazidi organization, was established in 2014 to respond to the various needs of the Yazidi community after the self -proclaimed islamic State committed genocide against them in northern Iraq. The mission of YAZDA is to support the surviving victims of genocide and to ensure the future safety of the Yazidi ethnoreligious minority group. Know more about their work and ways to help and show solidarity by visiting their website: www.yazda.org. To make a donation please visit www.yazda.org/donations/
As a grassroots activist movement to end violence against women and girls, we have long recognized that in order to end violence against women and girls, we must change the systems that perpetuate violence – change of mindsets, change of structures that keep violence in place. Change in consciousness, awareness and understanding of issues, change in patriarchal values and cultures, change in policies that affect women economically, socially and sexually/physically, change in revolving patterns of control, oppression and repression.
Through V-Day and One Billion Rising, we have shattered taboos and silence around sexual violence and we have risen one billion strong in the streets, demanding justice and radical systemic change to end violence against women and girls.
After the events of last week in the United States, let’s strengthen and renew our commitment to the fight for racial justice in the US, and throughout the world.
Together, let’s join in solidarity and stand with the Movement for Black Lives. Sign the pledge they have issued, guided by love and our unending commitment to work until the violence stops.
On Monday, Eve released her latest commentary piece in The Guardian entitled, “It’s Time for White People to Reckon with Racism.” In the piece, Eve calls for “a collective reckoning, a moral accounting, a radical self-appraisal and calling out, fellow white Americans. Our explicit and implicit participation in crimes against black people has gone on for too long…Feigning ignorance or a lack of complicity is no longer acceptable – we must all work together to counter endemic prejudice in America,” she writes asking us to look closely, dig deeper, and get involved.
“Bodies of Revolution: Women Rise Against the Violence of Police, States & Empire” will air on Link TV starting Tues, 19 July and several dates thereafter. The broadcast event will feature excerpts from the live panels convened last December by One Billion Rising, the The African American Policy Forum, and the Columbia Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies and co-produced by the The Laura Flanders Show featuring global human rights leaders and dissidents from the US, the Middle East and Asia.
Participants include Suad Amiry (Palestine), Fartuun Adan (Somalia), Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (US), Eve Ensler (US), Frances Garrett (US), Nimmi Gowrinathan (US/Sri Lanka), Yanar Mohammed (Iraq), Lu Pin (China), Thenmozhi Soundararajan (US/India), Sara Milena Ferrer Valencia (Colombia), Monique Wilson (Philippines), and Zoya (Afghanistan).
In the aftermath of two of the many recent attacks by ISIS militants on the Islamic world, local V-Day and One Billion Rising activists from Bangladesh and Iraq shared statements of outrage, sorrow, and solidarity. We stand in solidarity with them, and will continue to RISE against a system that perpetuates violence and hate.
One Billion Rising Rises in Solidarity with Bangladesh
“Bangladesh has learned to cope with many disasters, of many kinds, cyclones, floods, river erosion, wars, and we as a nation have been able to turn around, show our resilience and build our lives, more strong, more focused, with humour, love, and a spirit of collectivity. Now we have a worse diseased form of disaster, new and alien disasters that have made us get into a kind of stupor, of not knowing how to deal with these new actions against us, these horrifying and senseless killings. These killings, machete attacks being targeted only for being progressive, for being gay, for being a liberated person, for being open, a rationalist, an agnostic, an atheist, a baul, a follower of sufism, of being a pir, of being a shia, of being an ahmedia, a hindu, a buddhist, a christian, anything that is not following the totally alien to our land cult and I use the word cult deliberately of Wahabism as it is seen in the present context or popular perception.” – One Billion Rising Bangladesh Coordinator, Khushi Kabir
“There are no words to express the anger, sadness, and helplessness. A huge explosion takes place in the heart of Baghdad in Karrada, where families were shopping for new clothes to celebrate the Eid! Hundreds of mostly young victims were that day’s price to pay for the Islamic religious wars between the Shia government and the Sunni opposition. What the mourning mothers in Karrada shouted outloud was: We do not want your religion … take it away, and go to hell with it.” – Yanar Mohammed, Founder of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and V-Day activist
In honor of Eve’s birthday today, a generous donor has offered to match contributions up to $25K. DOUBLE your impact, when you donate today.
With your support, in regions throughout Congo, the City of Joy will purchase plots of land for collectives of graduates. By working this land, their land, these women will increase their financial independence.
In the world-premiere adaptation of her critically acclaimed memoir In The Body Of The World, Eve celebrates the strength and joy that connect a single body to the planet. As an activist and artist, Eve has spent her career speaking about the female body. While working in the Congo, where war continues to inflict devastating violence on women, she was diagnosed with stage III/IV uterine cancer. This diagnosis erased the boundaries between Ensler’s work and her own body. In this raw, humorous, and bold performance staged by Diane Paulus (Finding Neverland, Crossing, Waitress), Eve charts the connections between the personal and the public, inviting and challenging all of us to come back into our bodies, and thus the world.
Theatre critics and audiences agree, the piece is moving, deeply human, artistically masterful and not to be missed.
This letter was written and shared by the Executive Director of GAMCOTRAP & One Billion Rising Coordinator for the Gambia, Dr. Isatou Touray, in condemnation of the local situation that has violated civic rights as well as undermine the dignity of the women involved and detained.
After performing the monologue Crooked Braid in a 2016 production of The Vagina Monologues, Omaha Tribe member Onna Webster LeBeau wrote to V-Day to share her experience of participating in the play and performing the piece for an audience full of many strong women including many Native American women. Her blog is a reflection on her continued path of healing and strength.
As I pondered this blog and how to approach it there were several angles I could have approached it from. I could share my treacherous story of the actual abuse beginning with the emotional abuse, mental abuse and all the way up to the actual physical abuse. I could have discussed how I got out. How I devised a five-year plan and then was given the gift of freedom after two years consisting of a lot of financial plotting and planning. How I figured out how much money I would need to live on my own without being financially dependent on him as he would have used it as a tool to control me. I also could have spoken about my healing process. How even after 21 years of happiness in my current marriage I still feel the pangs of the emotional abuse. I could have spoken about my nervous breakdown and how I finally faced the truth of who I am and how I took ownership of my past in order to live in the present and enjoy each day for the gift it is. What I settled on is this:
Whenever I tell my story to someone I have a tendency to minimize it. I think of what I went through as a victim of domestic abuse as “nothing compared to what others went through”. I recall the first time I caught myself down playing it by saying to a friend “I didn’t get it like others have, I didn’t end up in the hospital nor did I ever feel it bad enough to call the cops.” My friend touched my hand and said “a hit is a hit, either way he still hit you.” It was at that point I started to truly analyze what I went through 23 years prior to this simple but profound statement.
Recently, I told my husband of 21 years about the feisty young girl I was prior to meeting my first husband. I shared instances of taking no shit from any man, I told him before I met my ex I spoke up and said what was on my mind. I had no fear of breaking up with a boyfriend if he did me wrong. It was then I realized the outspoken tiny-but-mighty girl had disappeared after the first “I do”. After 8 years in an incredibly unhappy marriage I had lost my voice. Even after another 23 memorable years in a beautiful relationship with my soulmate, my partner in life, my husband of 21 years, I realized I still had not gained my voice back.
My friend who previously participated in The Vagina Monologues asked if I was interested in reading for monologues. I immediately replied with a strong “absolutely!” I saw this as an opportunity to check the “play a part in a play onstage” off my bucket list and saw it as a way to be a voice for someone, little did I know the voice would be mine.
I immediately downloaded the e-book and audio book. I watched videos on YouTube and I selected three monologues I was interested in reading. On the first night of reading rehearsal the producer handed me “Crooked Braid”. I was sitting at a conference room table with 10-15 other enthusiastic, bright, beautiful women and I started to read the first few lines of “Crooked Braid” silently to myself. The first few words, “He wanted to go out”, “you stay home”, “you have a baby”, all of those words brought back the memory of me sitting on the couch in our cheese box of a mobile home at the age of 19 with my 6 month old son as my abuser husband got ready to go out. “I won’t be home tonight” were his last words as he walked out the door. I knew he was going to be sleeping with the girl he was seeing. The pain of his words as he walked out the door was worse than being slapped in the face. That night I cried as if someone had died, the enormous feeling of emptiness was the worst feeling I had ever felt in my life. . . . I knew I had to read “Crooked Braid”.
“American Indian women residing on Indian reservations suffer domestic violence and physical assault at rates far exceeding women of other ethnicities and locations. [1] A 2004 Department of Justice report estimates these assault rates to be as much as 50% higher than the next most victimized demographic.[2] The Crooked Braid monologue was created after Eve Ensler interviewed women from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in my home state of South Dakota. “Crooked Braid” is the voice of many Native American women who have been victims of domestic abuse. I am American Indian. I am an enrolled member of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska. For me “Crooked Braid” became personal. I couldn’t allow it to become personal. Each time I read through the monologue I had to mentally prepare myself to allow the voice, my voice, become the voice of the Lakota winyan (Lakota woman), the UmoNhoN wau (Omaha woman) the voice of far too many American Indian women. Each time I read through “Crooked Braid” I was the woman told to stay home by the man who was going to go out drinking and who knows what else. Like the woman in Crooked Braid I was the woman who was tossed around in a parking lot like a rag doll. I was the woman who quietly hated her husband and wished the worst wishes ever, who feared her son(s) would inherit the abuse as the victim and eventually the abuser.
During rehearsal I couldn’t help but cry while I read through the monologue. Until the day of my first reading in front of an audience I had no idea how I was going to get through it. On my drive to the theatre I could feel the nerves going crazy. Every car in front of me moved at a snail’s pace. It seemed as if the Gods were telling me to slow down. I stopped in the middle of a parking lot, looked at the clock, I had 45 minutes to get to the theatre which was less than a 10 minute drive away. I immediately took a deep breath and said to myself, “everything will be fine. This is your moment. Tonight your fears and reluctance will disappear for you are going to get on stage and say the words of “Crooked Braid” out loud and you are going to TAKE YOUR VOICE BACK! He is not here (my ex that is) and he can’t hurt you ever again. He’s a coward and you are so much stronger than him. The roads seemed to instantly clear and I made it to the theatre calm and ready.
Unfortunately my husband, who was out of town, couldn’t make my first reading. He arrived after I was finished. He felt bad for not being there to support me. When we got home I was high on the emotions and elated from the release. I told him “It wasn’t meant for you to be there tonight.” He said he would have wanted to help me through the words, he wanted to rescue me, but the words of Crooked Braid were meant for me to get through on my own, without him being there to rescue me. I had to take this step on my own, it was my step and my step alone, my step towards healing.
It’s astounding how the after affect of the trauma remains in your blood stream. Since my divorce there have been occasions when individuals have confronted me and tried to intimidate me. When I felt them trying to over power me with their words or their look of disapproval I felt the same feeling I had when my ex-husband would take his stance of power and control over me. I would feel my blood rush, my heart pound and my mind would be working on overdrive trying to figure out how I was going to take flight. I can’t call my reaction instinctual but it is definitely a bittersweet learned behavior. Presently, with each day that passes, with each lesson I learn I feel mentally stronger. I’ve learned to let things go, I’ve learned to pay attention to my instincts. I’ve grown into someone I never knew I could be. For me this amazing opportunity to be a part of The Vagina Monologues was far more than I could have ever imagined.
What do I hope for other survivors and victims? I hope and pray they find their voice. They need to find somewhere deep within themselves the strength to say stop. I pray they have the support system to help them find their way, their way to a safer future and when they are ready, find freedom through forgiveness. Years ago I forgave my ex-husband for being the abusive beast he is, I had to in order for me to move forward. I forgave him but never forgot. I also forgave the girl he was sleeping with. I saw her a few years ago. She didn’t recognize me but I knew who she was. Once she passed me in the park I sat down and I cried those same hard tears I cried the night he spent with her and I let it all go. His existence in my life had long been over and it did nothing for me to hold onto the anger and hatred. She didn’t need to know about the forgiveness as I did this for me. My healing process has consisted of a lot of release so I could make room for my future.
Everyday I count my blessings. I am grateful I didn’t get beaten unrecognizable. I am grateful for my lessons in life, for my husband, for his ability to understand I needed the freedom to grow into me. I am blessed to have 5 sons and one step-son who know how to treat their woman with love and respect. I was able to find personal success and now I am able to use my own voice. I survived. American Indian women are two times more likely to experience some form of domestic abuse in their lifetime. Another statement is domestic abuse can happen to anyone, men, women, children, elders. We each need to use our voices to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. We need to advocate for those who need someone on their side. We need to be the support system for those who require a little help. We need to continue to support organizations such as V-Day and make people aware of the person next to them for they may be going through the struggle of domestic abuse.
Onna LeBeau is an enrolled member of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and resides in South Dakota in the land of the Lakota.
1 Steven Brief for National Network to End Domestic Violence et al. as Amici Curiae Supporting Respondents at 2, Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land and Cattle Co., 128 S. Ct. 2709 (2008) (No. 07-411). 2 W Perry, American Indians and Crime- A BJS Statistical Profile 1992-2002, Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, December 2004.
In response to statements made by presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte joking about a murdered Australian rape victim, One Billion Rising Director Monique Wilson penned an open letter to Duterte imploring him to use his voice to end rape culture. READ & SHARE the letter:
“Mayor Duterte, rape is rape. I don’t have to tell you what that means. But you need to understand the full gravity of rape and rape culture. And where your actions play a part in perpetuating that.
Rape culture is denying the weight and seriousness of the crime by joking about it. It doesn’t matter that you tell us later on what the context of the story was.
All that matters is that you made light of it, and allowed your followers at that rally to laugh along, diminishing the gravity of the rape.
Words are important Mayor. You cannot throw them out playfully and casually and not look at the consequences of what your words do.” – Monique Wilson
In 2014, Nadia Murad was kidnapped from her Kocho in Northern Iraq after ISIL militants ransacked her village and murdered hundreds of men and older women. After months of enslavement, suffering countless atrocities, she escaped and is speaking out to raise awareness of the girls who remain in captivity. Eve was asked by TIME Magazine to profile her as one of the 100 Most Influential People:
A Witness for War’s Victims
Nadia Murad stands in a long, invisible history of fierce, indomitable women who rise from the scorched earth of rape during war to break the odious silence and demand justice and freedom for their sisters. At 19 she lost her home, her country, her culture, her mother to murder; witnessed male members of her family murdered in mass killings; and was kidnapped, sold and endlessly raped by members of ISIS. She now travels the world speaking out on the genocide being inflicted on her Yezidi people and demanding release for the more than 3,000 women still held in bondage.
As Europe closes its borders to terrorized refugees in Greece and the U.S. turns its back on the suffering, Nadia is a beacon of light and truth—a reminder that it was the American-led war in Iraq that laid the path for ISIS, that U.S. arms left behind on the battlefield fell into the hands of ISIS and that the U.S. waited too long to intervene in the mass killing and enslavement of the Yezidi people. At 23, Nadia Murad is risking everything to awaken us. I hope we are listening, because we too are responsible. – Ensler is a playwright and the founder of V-Day, a movement to end violence against women and girls
This August 3rd marks the two-year anniversary of the brutal attack of the Yazidi people in Sinjar Province in the Northern region of Iraq, Two years since IS or ISIL (also known as ISIS or Daesh) stormed towns, villages, and historic homelands of the ethno-religious group, killing over 5,000 men and elders, enslaving over 7,000 women and children and displacing over 400,000 more. Two years since the humanitarian crisis in which thousands of internally displaced Yazidis were trapped on Sinjar Mountain, surrounded by Isis fighters determined to exterminate the indigenous group, dying of exposure and dehydration. Two years since the ongoing genocide of the Yazidi people began, including the desecration of homes, holy sites and women’s bodies.
Nadia Murad stands in a long, invisible history of fierce, indomitable women who rise from the scorched earth of rape during war to break the odious silence and demand justice and freedom for their sisters. At 19 she lost her home, her country, her culture, her mother to murder; witnessed male members of her family murdered in mass killings; and was kidnapped, sold and endlessly raped by members of ISIS. She now travels the world speaking out on the genocide being inflicted on her Yezidi people and demanding release for the more than 3,000 women still held in bondage.