I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine.

Nadia Murad

INTRODUCTION

Nadia Murad, born in 1993 in Kocho, Iraq, is a Yazidi human rights activist and the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She was abducted and enslaved by the Islamic State (IS) in August 2014.[1] Just three months after escaping from ISIS captivity, she began sharing her story, thereby drawing attention to issues such as human trafficking and sexual abuse.[2] In this way, she became a voice for countless Yazidis, especially women who had endured the same ordeal. Her autobiography, I Am Your Voice: The Girl Who Escaped ISIS and Fights Against Violence and Slavery, became a New York Times bestseller and chronicles the genocide of the Yazidi ethnic-religious minority in Iraq and Nadia’s captivity.

THE STORY

On August 3, 2014, ISIS attacked the northern Iraqi city of Shingal (German: Sinjar) and killed, kidnapped, and enslaved several thousand Yazidis.[3] Like many minority groups, the Yazidi people have faced persecution and discrimination for decades. Women in particular have suffered—and continue to suffer—from sexual violence to this day.

The Yazidi men were forced to convert to Islam, but almost all of them refused, leading the terrorists to shoot and/or behead them on the spot. [4] Women and young girls were abducted and used primarily as sex slaves in regions such as Mosul and Syria, and were often sold on to other men.[5] It is estimated that more than 5,200 Yazidi women were abducted and enslaved, and 5,000 men were killed.[6] Boys aged 5 to 15 were also abducted and trained as IS soldiers.[7] Many Yazidis fled to the Sinjar Mountains during the attack. Due to the extreme heat and lack of basic necessities such as water, food, sleep, and shelter, many of them—especially children and the elderly—lost their lives.[8]

On August 15, 2014, ISIS terrorists marched into the nearby village of Kocho (German: Kodscho) and did the same to the Yazidis there. [9] Among them was Nadia Murad.

When ISIS attacked her hometown with the aim of ethnically cleansing Iraq of the Yazidis, the previously peaceful life of the then 21-year-old came to an end. Nadia’s family suffered terrible tragedies during the 2014 genocide. Nadia was forced to watch as her mother and all her brothers were taken away, only to be killed later.[10]

One of her nieces, named Katherine, was separated from her in the Iraqi city of Mosul and kidnapped several times by ISIS terrorists. In 2016, she was murdered while fleeing, along with two other Yazidi girls.[11]

During her captivity, Nadia Murad endured inhuman treatment. She was primarily held as a sex slave and sold at markets and on Facebook, often for no more than $20. She was also forced to pray, to dress up attractively, and to wear makeup before being raped. One night, she was brutally assaulted by a group of men until she lost consciousness. During her captivity, the terrorists repeatedly called her a “filthy infidel” (in their view, Yazidis are “devil worshippers”) and boasted that the Yazidi women had submitted to them and that they would completely wipe out the Yazidi faith.[12]

In her book, Nadia Murad recounts the rapes and their impact on her mental well-being, as well as the sense of hopelessness she felt about her future: “The rapes were the worst. They stripped us of all our humanity and destroyed any hope for the future—for a return to Yazidi society, for marriage, children, a happy life. We would have much rather they had just killed us.” [13]

With the help of a Muslim family, Nadia Murad managed to escape, initially to a refugee camp. Thanks to an assistance program offered by the state government of Baden-Württemberg for Yazidi women, she came to Germany in 2015. She now lives in safety near Stuttgart and travels frequently for her work, including internationally, such as to the United States. [14] She wanted to actively advocate for the Yazidis, but she wasn’t sure how to go about it. In Germany, she got to know other survivors of the genocide and Yazidis living in Germany, partly through therapy sessions. One of them was Murad Ismael, who, together with other Yazidis, founded the organization Yazda. Through Yazda, Nadia Murad had the opportunity to become politically and socially involved as well. Murad Ismael told her that the organization was working, among other things, to help women and girls who had been abducted by ISIS. [15] Yazda thus marked the beginning of Nadia’s commitment and the work she continues to do to this day.

In November 2015, one year and three months after ISIS had arrived in Kocho, Nadia Murad traveled to Switzerland to speak before the United Nations Forum on Minorities. It was the first time she would tell her story to such a large audience. Nadia wanted to talk about everything, but she only had three minutes to speak. Eventually, she was advised to simply tell her own story, and she took that to heart. She knew that if she spoke openly and honestly about her story, it would leave a lasting impression. So she told the audience about the man who held her captive the longest: Haji Salman. She recounted how often he raped her, the terrible nights she had to endure, and the horrific things she witnessed.[16]

On December 10, 2018, Nadia Murad was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In her speech, she spoke about her life in Iraq, her goals, and her dream at the time of running a beauty salon after graduating from school. She spoke of the rapid advance of ISIS into Sinjar and the atrocities committed against her and thousands of other Yazidis. She also emphasized her gratitude for all the opportunities she had been given and mentioned how important it is to protect minorities of all kinds around the world and to hold perpetrators accountable.[17]

Nadia’s speech is very heartfelt, as this excerpt makes clear: “I am proud of the Yazidis, proud of their strength and patience. Our community has been targeted many times and its very existence has been threatened, but we continue to fight for our right to exist. The Yazidi community embodies peace and tolerance and should therefore be seen as a model for the world.” [18]

Nadia Murad und Denis Mukwege bei der Verleihung des Friedensnobelpreises 2018, City Hall Oslo, 10.12.2018 © European Union 2016 – European Parliament, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

In addition, Nadia Murad founded the nonprofit organization Nadia’s Initiative. The initiative focuses primarily on women and is dedicated to creating a world in which every woman and girl has the right to live in peace. Nadia’s Initiative aims to support, in particular, those who have been traumatized by past events. Through national and international aid, as well as legislative changes and new policies, the initiative seeks to protect and support women and survivors of sexual violence worldwide. Nadia’s Initiative collaborates with governments and international organizations around the globe to raise awareness of these issues and bring about positive and meaningful change. The initiative pursues many humanitarian goals, including putting an end to the abuse of women and girls as weapons of war. Additionally, it aims to give a voice to those whose names and stories have gone unmentioned until now. Perpetrators must be held accountable, and survivors must be given the opportunity to heal from their trauma and build new lives. Furthermore, the initiative places a strong emphasis on working in crisis regions, helping to establish basic resources and security..[19]

As a UN Special Advocate and through her organization, Nadia Murad works worldwide to defend the rights of victims of sexual violence and to support the reconstruction of the Sinjar region in Iraq. She lives in the United States and campaigns internationally (primarily alongside lawyer Amal Clooney) for the prosecution of ISIS crimes and against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. In her autobiography, she writes that she no longer has any inhibitions about standing in front of a large audience and giving speeches. She is deeply committed to her cause with great enthusiasm and pride and is convinced that telling her story is the best weapon for defeating terrorism..[20]

Her book ends with the sentence: “And more than anything else, I say, I wish to be the last girl who has a story like mine to tell.” [21]

Author: Zeri Al Hamo (Translation: Magdalena Köhler)

Contact: info@fritz-bauer-forum.de

Sources:

• Murad, Nadia: Ich bin eure Stimme. Das Mädchen, das dem Islamischen Staat entkam und gegen Gewalt und Versklavung kämpfte, 2019.
• Nadia Murad –Nadia’s Initiative, URL: https://www.nadiasinitiative.de, retrieved 24.02.2026.
• Press Graduation of Nobel Peace Laureate Nadia Murad, Nadia’s Initiative, URL: https://www.nadiasinitiative.org/news/graduation-of-nadia-murad, retrieved 03.03.2026.
• Yazda, URL: https://www.yazda.org/yazda, retrieved 03.03.2026.
• Zeidan, Adam: Nadia Murad. Iraqi Humans Rights Activist, 1. Januar 2026, URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nadia-Murad, retrieved 24.02.2026.

Header image: Iraqi Yazidi activists Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar are awarded the Sakharov Prize 2016. © European Union 2016 – European Parliament, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Footnotes: