By Gary Raynaldo / ©Diplomatic Times / Nadia Murad, (left) a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist speaks with reporters after addressing the United Nations Security Council Wednesday to announce her initiative on efforts to prevent and end cycles of sexual violence in global conflict. Murad is an Iraqi activist who was repeatedly raped and tortured while enslaved by Islamic State in 2014.
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – Nadia Murad, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist addressed the UN Security Council Wednesday on efforts to prevent and end cycles of sexual violence in global conflict. Murad, along with the UK government, and Institute for International Criminal Investigations launched a global code of conduct Wednesday with focus on better gathering of information about conflict-related sexual violence from survivors. The “Murad Code” aims to ensure survivors can have their experiences recorded safely, in a way that respects their wishes and human rights, improves the chance of justice and reduces trauma. Murad made the announcement alongside Lord Tariq Ahmad, the UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.
Murad, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for her efforts to end rape as a weapon of war, first addressed the U.N. Security Council in 2015 at the age of 22 – describing the torture and rape she suffered while enslaved by Islamic State a year earlier. Murad is an Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist who lives in Germany. In 2014, she was kidnapped from her hometown Kocho and held by the Islamic State for three months. Murad focused on justice and accountability for survivors of sexual violence crimes committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh).
“Efforts to end sexual violence are gaining momentum, in large part thanks to brave survivors around the world who have shared their stories. But too often, reporting sexual violence has negative consequences for survivors. The Murad Code lays out clear and practical guidelines for centering the needs of survivors when collecting evidence, and ensuring that they receive justice and support, rather than repercussions. Survivors deserve at least that.”
-Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad
Murad was among thousands of women from the Yazidi minority group in northern Iraq who were sold into sexual slavery and raped by ISIL terrorists, the group officially known now as Da’esh, in 2014.
Eight years on, some 2,800 women and children remain in the hands of the terrorist group, Murad said.
“As survivors of sexual violence, it is not easy for us to tell our stories. But we do it to prevent what happened to us from happening to others. The pursuit of justice is one of the most visible forms of accountability,” she told the Council, citing the historic genocide conviction of an ISIL fighter by a German court last year.
Murad sadly wondered if the international community will do more.
By Gary Raynaldo / ©Diplomatic Times / Nadia Murad, (left) a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, UK Minister of State for South Asia, North Africa, the UN and the Commonwealth, and the UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, and Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten, at press briefing with reporters after addressing the United Nations Security Council Wednesday on efforts to prevent and end cycles of sexual violence in global conflict.
The Security Council held its annual open debate Wednesday on conflict-related sexual violence, which this year is titled “Accountability as Prevention: Ending Cycles of Sexual Violence in Conflict”. The meeting was chaired by Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, UK Minister of State for South Asia, North Africa, the UN and the Commonwealth, and the UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten and Murad, who is also UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Goodwill Ambassador, addressed the Council.
The focus of the open debate is consistent with the campaign to stop sexual violence in conflict launched by UK Foreign Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities Liz Truss in November 2021, the UN said
Rape is War’s oldest and least-condemned crime
Murad described sexual violence as a war tactic as old as human history itself, recalling that when Da’esh began targeting the Yazidi community in 2014, thousands were massacred and thousands more women and girls were sold into sexual slavery.
Recalling that the Council has passed 10 resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, five of which focus on preventing and addressing conflict-related sexual violence, Patten questioned what those declarations mean right now for a woman in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Myanmar or Tigray in northern Ethiopia.
“Every new wave of warfare brings with it a rising tide of human tragedy, including new waves of war’s oldest, most silenced, and least-condemned crime,” she said. Patten underscored how prosecution is critical, and a form of prevention, as it can help turn the culture of impunity for these crimes, towards a culture of deterrence.
According to the annual report, parties to the conflict in Syria “have continued to perpetrate sexual violence”. In calling for further accountability measures, some speakers referenced as a positive development the 13 January sentencing of a former Syrian intelligence official to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, including rape and sexual assault, by a German court under universal jurisdiction.
“We are called brave, but the courage we really want to see is from leaders in a position to do something, whether they are Heads of State, Member States here at the UN, or corporate leaders. We need more than moral outrage; we need action.”
-Nadia Murad
