Nadia Murad, an anti-rape activist, has been named as winner of 2018 Nobel Peace Prize along with Denis Mukwege, for their work to free the Yazidi people. Nadia and Denis work as campaigners against rape in warfare. But before becoming a campaigner and winning the highest ever award, Nadia faced the same torture at the hands of ISIS. Nadia lived with a dream of being a teacher or working in the beauty salon. However, destiny had some other plans for her.
Nadia, an Iraqi, in 2014 was rounded up, held captive and passed among ISIS militants as a sex slave. Militants also killed her six brothers and her mother. Nadia was from Yazidi community against whom the ISIS had waged the war and performed atrocities in the most violent way. Murad was repeatedly raped and sold on and endured month’s torture until she escaped by gambling her life. She then, despite her trauma and mental stress, went in public and said what she went through which was also like revisiting the same thing all over again. But her bravery and courage helped her to overcome all the torture and tell her story.
It was a long journey for Murad, but her courage helped her to become a human rights activist. She is now focused to support survivors. Murad was also appointed as a UN Goodwill ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. At present, there are thousands of Yazidis who are still missing and who are still in trauma with sexual slavery or other violence and are struggling in refugee camps with less medical and psychological help.
Nadia’s story, her courage is now awarded with world’s most prestigious prize, the Nobel Peace Prize. It is a prize which is awarded to a person with extraordinary courage and we are hopeful that her struggle will inspire many like her to come ahead, letting go of their past and help the many like them who can’t help themselves.