Nadia Murad participates in the exhumation of the first mass graves containing the remains of Yazidi victims.

UNODC Goodwill Ambassador and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad participated in an exhumation ceremony in the village of Kocho in Sinjar, Northern Iraq. The ceremony marks the revealing of the first mass graves containing the remains of Yazidi victims who were killed during targeted ISIS attacks in August 2014. 

During her ceremonial speech, Murad highlighted the failure of the Iraqi and KRG governments to protect Yazidis from attacks launched by ISIS, citing both the resulting genocide and the Yazidis’ Arab neighbors’ complicity in the attacks. Murad emphasized that the “Yazidis reject the current political conflict between the Iraq and KRG governments regarding the disputed Sinjar region and call on both parties to start deescalating the situation by supporting stability in the region and facilitating the return of the internally displaced persons (IDP)s.” Murad also stressed that the Yazidis reject reconciliation without justice – Arab tribe leaders surrounding Sinjar should hand over those who participated in committing crimes to security forces to enable an investigation. No reconciliation is possible without genuine efforts to hold criminals accountable.

Murad called on both sides of the government to solve the issue of duplication of local administration in Sinjar and initiate the formation of local Yazidi security forces according to Iraqi laws. This would enable Yazidis to protect the region against any future threats, as well as start the compensation, reconstruction, and provisioning of public services.

ناديا مراد تشارك في مراسيم فتح اول مقبرة جماعية للضحايا الايزديين في قرية كوجو

شاركت سفيرة الامم اللمتحدة للنوايا الحسنة " ناديا مراد" الحاصلة على جائزة نوبل للسلام في مراسيم فتح اول مقبرة جماعية للضحايا الايزديين في قرية كوجو، غربي محافظة نينوى – شمال العراق. 

خلال كلمتها التي القتها بمناسبة بدء هذه المراسيم، قالت ناديا مراد: ان الحكومة العراقية وحكومة اقليم كوردستان كانوا مقصرين في حماية الايزديين من هجمات تنظيم داعش الارهابي، وكنتيجة لذلك ارتكبت ابادة جماعية وبتعاون الجيران الذين يسكنون في محيط مناطق الايزيدية. 

مراد بينت ان " الايزيديون يرفضون الصراع السياسي القائم بين الحكومة العراقية وحكومة اقليم كوردستان على منطقة سنجار وباقي المناطق وطالبتهم بوقف هذا الصراع والبدء بدعم عملية استقرار المنطقة لتسهيل عودة النازحيين الى ديارهم. 

ناديا ايضا اكدت على ان " الايزيديون يرفضون مبدأ عفا الله عما سلف وانه يجب على جيران الايزيدية وشيوخ العشائر العربية تسليم الاشخاص الذين شاركوا في ارتكاب الجرائم الى القوات الامنية وذلك للتحقيق العدالة، لا مصالحة دون محاسبة المجرمين". 

السفيرة نادية مراد في كلمتها ناشدت الحكومة العراقية وحكومة اقليم كوردستان الى حل مشكلة الادارة المحلية وتشكيل قوى من الايزديين لحماية منطقتهم، والبدء بتعويض الناس واعادة الاعمار وتوفير الخدمات، داعية الحكومة على البدء باصلاح العراق من بوابة سنجار التي ارتكبت فيها ابادة جماعية وراح ضحيتها الالاف من الناس الابرياء. 

Nadia Murad, Yazda and Amal Clooney welcome the start of exhumation activities in Kocho, Sinjar

As officially announced yesterday, the Iraqi authorities, in cooperation with the UN Investigative Team for Accountability of Da’esh/ISIL(UNITAD), will begin the exhumation of mass graves in the village of Kocho, Sinjar on 15 March 2019. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad, global Yazidi NGO Yazda and their joint legal counsel Amal Clooney welcome this important milestone in the investigation of crimes committed by ISIS against the Yazidi minority in Iraq.

This step answers our long-standing call for meaningful action in relation to the many mass graves discovered in Sinjar since the region was liberated from ISIS. A report issued by Yazda in January 2016 identified the location of 35 mass graves and kill sites in the area. A further report issued in August 2018, following Kocho’s liberation, documented the situation of these sites and called for UNITAD and the responsible local authorities to accelerate their efforts to exhume mass graves. Nadia Murad repeatedly urged the international community to support these efforts, including in her hometown of Kocho, whose mass graves are believed to contain the remains of many of her family members who were brutally executed by ISIS militants on 15 August 2014, together with most of the village’s male population. 

We welcome the cooperative approach adopted by the Iraqi authorities and UNITAD in the preparation for and implementation of the scheduled exhumation activities, and the involvement of international forensic experts tasked to ensure that international standards and best practices will be applied throughout the exhumation process. We call on all competent authorities to ensure that these standards are respected at all times, including in the excavation of mass graves, the collection of any evidence relevant to the investigation of ISIS crimes, and the identification of victims and repatriation of their remains to grieving families. 

We also welcome the involvement of representatives of the Yazidi community in the lead-up to the excavation and we call for this engagement of victim communities to continue throughout the exhumation process. Members of the Yazidi minority, and in particular survivors and relatives of the victims of ISIS, should continue to be duly consulted and informed about the progress of the planned exhumations, including the treatment of remains and their identification and the proposed timeframe and procedure for the repatriation of remains to their families to allow their burial in accordance with Yazidi religious rites.

We hope the exhumation scheduled to begin in Kocho on 15 March will be part of a comprehensive effort which will result in the exhumation of all ISIS mass graves in Sinjar and beyond, the return of victims’ remains to their families and the investigation of the relevant crimes, leading to the prosecution of the responsible ISIS militants. 

Nadia Murad, Yazda and Amal Clooney call on the Global Coalition to intensify efforts to investigate ISIS crimes and rescue Yazidi captives held in Syria

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad, global Yazidi NGO Yazda and their joint legal counsel Amal Clooney call on the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and its local partners to investigate the reported massacre of Yazidi women in Baghouz and to create a task force to rescue those still held in ISIS captivity.

According to Reuters, a mass grave containing the decapitated bodies of dozens of people recently slaughtered by ISIS was discovered by the Coalition-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the Baghouz area earlier this week. The victims, most of whom are women, are believed to be members of the Yazidi minority captured by ISIS during its attack on Sinjar in August 2014. In addition, many captives are thought to be in grave danger as Coalition and local forces proceed to liberate the last pockets of territory controlled by ISIS.

We are concerned by recent reports that ISIS members held in Syria have been released and that fighters transferred to Iraq have been sentenced to death following rushed trials that exclude victims and do not comply with international fair-trial standards. We therefore call on the Global Coalition to coordinate with the United Nations and local partners to ensure the prompt and thorough investigation of crimes in Baghouz, and elsewhere across Syria, so that ISIS members can be brought to justice at the International Criminal Court or other courts that respect international human rights standards.

In parallel, as Coalition-backed forces oversee the evacuation of civilians from Baghouz, we reiterate the long-standing call by Nadia’s Initiative for the establishment of a task force to rescue Yazidi captives who continue to be held by ISIS. Since 2014, ISIS has been responsible for the death of an estimated 5,000 Yazidis, and the abduction of almost 6,500 Yazidis, over 3,000 of whom remain missing today.

International Religious Freedom Ministerial Conference at the US State Department

My speech at the International Religious Freedom Ministerial Conference. 

كلمتي حول وضع الايزيدين والأقليات الاخرى في المؤتمر الذي عقدته وزارة الخارجية الامريكية حول الحريات الدينية .

Iraq Army in Sinjar

We are encouraged that the Iraq Army has moved into Sinjar to improve security on the ground. We are hopeful the Iraqi Army will replace the militias as the main security force . We encourage the Iraq government to include Yazidis as part of the Iraq army in these efforts. 

Nadia Murad Basee
UNODC Goodwill Ambassador
Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking

Afrin conflict foreshadows "ethnic cleansing" and genocide.

Today, I received information that the area of Afrin inhabited by Kurds, Yazidis and Christians is under siege from all sides. There is only one road through which people can leave the city. 200 civilians have been killed, including 3 Yazidi children. Shrines and religious sites have been destroyed or forcibly converted into mosques. People’s homes are being looted and minorities are being shamed by extremist militias. Many of these actions are war crimes and should be documented. This horror is reminiscent of the initial actions of ISIS in Iraq. Medical and healthcare services are urgently needed. This situation foreshadows "ethnic cleansing" and genocide. I appeal to the UN, the EU, and UN Security Council to demand that all sides respect the rights of civilians and work toward a cease fire. I also call on humanitarian organizations and UN agencies to provide support to civilians in the areas where access to food and medical is rapidly disappearing. All sides in Syria should work together for a peace process that will ensure peace, stability, the protection of the rights of all religious and ethnic minorities. Now is the time to heal wounds, avoid further escalations and return to normality for people in Iraq and Syria.