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A Conversation with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad

School of International Service (SIS)

Past Event

Tuesday, Oct 19, 2021
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM (UTC)

Registration Required

Hosts

School of International Service (SIS)

Languages

English
English

Channels

Gender

Human Rights

In honor of the 120th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, SIS hosts a virtual event highlighting the important work of Nadia Murad, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for her efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. She is an advocate for survivors of genocide and sexual violence, and she herself has written about her experience of being imprisoned by ISIS in Iraq. AU professor Tazreena Sajjad will lead a conversation with Nadia about the crucial work she is doing with her organization, Nadia's Initiative, and about the importance of winning the Nobel Peace Prize to further the critical mission to help advocate for these survivors.

Registrants will receive reminder emails containing the Zoom webinar link.

Biographies

Human rights activist and recipient of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, Nadia Murad is a leading advocate for survivors of genocide and sexual violence. Her New York Times bestselling memoir, The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State, is a harrowing account of the genocide against the Yazidi people of Iraq and Nadia’s imprisonment by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). In 2016, Nadia became the first United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. That year, she was also awarded the Council of Europe Václav Havel Award for Human Rights and Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. In 2018, she won the Nobel Peace Prize with Dr. Denis Mukwege. Together, they founded the Global Fund for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. In 2019, Nadia was appointed as a UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate. Nadia is the founder and president of Nadia’s Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to rebuilding communities in crisis and advocating for survivors of sexual violence. Nadia’s Initiative’s current work is focused on the sustainable re-development of the Yazidi homeland in Sinjar and pursuing holistic justice for survivors of ISIS atrocities.

Tazreena Sajjad (moderator) is a professor at AU's School of International Service in the Global Governance, Politics and Security Program. Her areas of specialization include transitional justice, refugees and forced displacement, post-conflict governance, and gender and conflict. Her current research projects include examining the role of fortifications against irregular migrant flows, and refugee reception in the Global South. Previously, she worked in the Afghanistan program at Global Rights in Afghanistan, and in the South Asia program at the National Democratic Institute. She has also served as a research consultant at the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in Kabul, Afghanistan, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in D.C., and the Berghof Foundation in Berlin, Germany. Her first book, Transitional Justice in South Asia: A Study of Afghanistan and Nepal was published in 2013. She currently serves as an advisor to Refugee Solidarity Network and is a faculty affiliate of The Transatlantic Policy Center and The Antiracist Research and Policy Center at AU. She is a 2020 recipient of the SIS William Cromwell Outstanding Teaching Award.

This event is co-sponsored by AU's Office of Global and Immersive Studies.

Hosts

School of International Service (SIS)