Nadia’s Initiative
Nadia’s Initiative is a nonprofit organization founded in 2018 by Nadia Murad that advocates for survivors of sexual violence and aims to rebuild communities in crisis.
In August 2014, ISIS surrounded the quiet Yazidi farming village of Kocho in Sinjar as part of an effort to ethnically cleanse Yazidis from Iraq. In the week leading up to the attack, the Yazidi community pleaded for local and international leaders to send troops to protect them. No one came. Over a two-week period, ISIS militants murdered more than 5,000 men and older women, took more than 6,000 women and children captive, and forced more than 400,000 individuals to flee their homes.
Yazidis had long been persecuted for their religion, and while the children of Kocho grew up hearing of past massacres like folktales that bonded them together, that seemed far away somehow. They felt theirs was a modern world where entire groups would no longer be killed for their religion. That is until the summer of 2014, when their peaceful lives were brutally interrupted, their dignity and their homeland destroyed.
Our founder at Nadia’s Initiative, Nadia Murad, was one of those children. And that summer, just as she was preparing for her last year of high school, she lost six brothers and her mother in the attack. She, her sisters and her nieces were among the women and children taken captive and forced into sexual slavery. This was by design. Sexual violence has long been used as a weapon of war and ISIS was clear in their intent to destroy the community from within. Nadia managed to escape. Once she was able to seek refuge, first in an internally displaced persons camp in Kurdistan and later in Germany, she knew that she must tell her story in the hope that she might be the last girl in the world with a story like hers.
Since her escape, Nadia has dedicated her life to raising awareness of the atrocities committed against the Yazidis and of the widespread use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. In 2015, she had the opportunity to speak to the United Nations Security Council about human trafficking, and in 2016 joined forces with human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney, to seek justice and accountability for ISIS militants who had committed these horrendous crimes. Together, they lobbied the UN Security Council to pass Resolution 2379 which established the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD). Evidence was collected and thousands of survivors risked their lives to share their stories. They are standing by, wanting nothing more than their day in court. However, a decade later, the UNSC has broken that promise – by dismantling UNITAD without providing a pathway to justice.
In 2018, Nadia founded Nadia’s Initiative, a non-profit organisation dedicated to rebuilding communities in crisis and advocating for survivors of sexual violence. Through Nadia’s Initiative, we have worked to rebuild the ancestral Yazidi homeland of Sinjar, Iraq, to strengthen security in the region and to advocate on behalf of survivors, to ensure their voices are heard and to hold perpetrators accountable.
In addition to advocating on behalf of the Yazidi community, Nadia Murad has emerged as a leading voice in the fight against conflict-related sexual violence worldwide, urging the UN Security Council to seek justice and accountability, provide support for survivors and commit to gender equity in the long term. A global voice for justice and dignity, Nadia also established the Murad Code Project, working with the UK Government and Institute for International Criminal Investigation to launch a global code of conduct for gathering information of conflict-related sexual violence. These minimum standards on how best to safely and effectively gather evidence from survivors and witnesses will promote greater respect, transparency, and healing and reduce the risk of further trauma to survivors all over the world.
Since its inception, Nadia’s Initiative has worked with and earned the trust of governments, policy makers, activists and advocates throughout the world as a leader in sustainable, community-driven and survivor-centric development practices. In Sinjar, we have built new schools and rehabilitated farmland, restored clean water and helped women to establish small businesses. We built the Yazidi Genocide Memorial as a monument to the Yazidis who lost their lives, and a symbol of the strength of those who survived. We have also advocated tirelessly to prevent the use of women and girls as weapons of war, not just in Iraq, but all over the world—these efforts include co-hosting “Women in Conflicts” events with the EU Council and raising awareness of the rise of conflict-related sexual violence globally. With conflicts raging and record numbers of displaced people all over the globe, we must come together to protect the most vulnerable and prevent these atrocities from happening again.
2024 marked a decade since ISIS invaded the peaceful village of Kocho and lives were forever changed. While some progress has been made, there is still so much work to be done. We are heartened by the resilience of the survivors we have met and learned from, but the resilience of women is not enough. It must be met with action.
Our progress is only possible through partnership and with the continued support of the international community.
First and foremost, we must stand united against these crimes whenever and wherever they occur. Impunity is not an option. International courts of law must prioritise holding perpetrators accountable for their specific crimes. Second, national and international authorities must focus on sustainable, long-term solutions. We must work to provide reparations and fund community-driven and survivor-centric solutions that enable survivors to return home and rebuild their lives with dignity. At Nadia’s Initiative, we have seen first hand that this is possible. Finally, the global community must also address the rampant inequality and discrimination that pave the way for genocide in the first place, with a steadfast commitment to gender equity and protecting the rights of women and girls.
At Nadia’s Initiative, we are moving toward the future with a dream of a world where women are able to live peacefully, and communities that have experienced trauma and suffering are supported and redeveloped. We believe in a world where this is possible and that, together, we can build it.
The opinions expressed are those of the contributors, not necessarily of the RSAA.
