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Nadia Murad Basee Taha and Lamiya Aji Bashar are survivors of sexual enslavement by Islamic State (IS) and have become spokespersons for women afflicted by IS's campaign of sexual violence. They are public advocates for the Yazidi community in Iraq, a religious minority that has been the subject of a genocidal campaign by IS militants.
On 3 August 2014, IS slaughtered all the males in the village of Kocho, Aji Bashar and Murad's hometown in Sinjar/Iraq. Following the massacre, women and children were enslaved: all young women, including Aji Bashar, Murad and their sisters were kidnapped, bought and sold several times and exploited as sex slaves. During the Kocho massacre, Murad lost six of her brothers and her mother, who was killed along with 80 older women deemed to have no sexual value. Aji Bashar was also exploited as a sex slave along with her six sisters. She was sold five times among the militants and was forced to make bombs and suicide vests in Mosul after IS militants executed her brothers and father.
In November 2014, Murad managed to escape with the help of a neighbouring family who smuggled her out of the IS-controlled area, allowing her to make her way to a refugee camp in northern Iraq and then to Germany. A year later, in December 2015, Murad addressed the UN Security Council's first-ever session on human trafficking with a powerful speech about her experience. In September 2016, she became the first United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking, participating in global and local advocacy initiatives to raise awareness around the plight of the countless victims of trafficking. In October 2016, the Council of Europe honoured her with the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.
Aji Bashar tried to flee several times before finally escaping in April with the help of her family, who paid local smugglers. On her way over the Kurdish border, and while racing towards Iraq's government-controlled territory with IS militants in pursuit, a landmine exploded, killing two of her acquaintances and leaving her injured and almost blind. Luckily she managed to escape and was eventually sent for medical treatment in Germany, where she was reunited with her surviving siblings. Since her recovery Aji Bashar has been active in raising awareness about the plight of the Yazidi community and continues to help women and children who were victims of IS enslavement and atrocities.
About Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar
Nadia Murad Basee Taha and Lamiya Aji Bashar are from Kocho, one of the villages near Sinjar, Iraq. In August 2014, Islamic State militants slaughtered all the males in the village. Young women, including Aji Bashar, Murad and their sisters, were abducted by Islamic State militants and forced into sex slavery.
They eventually managed to escape: Murad in November 2014 and Aji Bashar in April 2016.
Murad, 23 years old, and Aji Bashar, 19 years old, now live in Germany and have become active in raising awareness of the plight of the Yazidi community in Iraq, a religious minority subjected to a genocidal campaign by Islamic State militants and of the situation of women affected by the terrorist group’s campaign of sexual violence.
Murad said: “I’ve seen thousands of refugees go through the same thing as myself and my family. We are scattered all over the place. I also know that Islamic State is still trying to exterminate us. I think about this and this is what gives me the strength, all the strength, to continue."
Aji Bashar added: “I would really like to explain what happened to me there, not only for myself, but so others, the other women, are not treated like this, so that we Yazidis never have to go through anything like this again."
Follow the Sakharov Prize ceremony live
The Sakharov Prize award ceremony takes place on Tuesday 13 December in the European Parliament in Strasbourg at noon CET. Follow it live on our website, on the page of our Facebook account or on our other social media platforms using the hashtag #SakharovPrize.
After the ceremony President Martin Schulz, Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar will give a press conference. The laureates will also meet the members from the foreign affairs, development and human rights comittees on Monday 12 December at 19.00 CET.
Sakharov Prize 2016 finalists Can Dündar and Mustafa Dzhemilev will also attend the ceremony.
More on the Sakharov Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was set up in 1998 and is awarded each year by the European Parliament to honour individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. The prize is accompanied by an award of €50,000.
Last year the prize was awarded to Raif Badawi. The Saudi blogger who has not been able to receive the prize in person is still in prison for hosting online posts that were considered blasphemous by Saudi authorities on his website.
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