Nobel Prize winners call for an end to rape in conflict
Yazidi activist Nadia Murad and Congolese gynaecologist Dr Denis Mukwege were presented with Nobel Peace Prizes for their work in campaigning against rape in warfare during an emotional ceremony yesterday.
Ms Murad was abducted by ISIS in Iraq in 2014. She managed to escape later that year and since then has worked tirelessly to raise the plight of the Yazidi people.
Dr Mukwege treated women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who were raped by armed men.
The Nobel committee announced in October that the pair would be jointly awarded the prize “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict”.
During her speech at the ceremony in Oslo, Ms Murad called on the international community to increase its efforts to protect the Yazidi community from again becoming the targets of terrorist organisations.
“If we want the Yazidis to leave displacement camps and return to their areas and give them confidence again, the international community should provide them with international protection under UN supervision,” she said.
More than 6,500 women and children from the Yazidi minority in Iraq and Syria were abducted by ISIS. About 3,000 women and girls are still missing.
“If justice is not done this genocide will be repeated against us and against other vulnerable communities,” Ms Murad said.
Dr Mukwege gave examples of the horrific injuries he treated during his 20 years at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu.
“Babies, girls, young women, mothers, grandmothers, and also men and boys, cruelly raped, often publicly and collectively, by inserting burning plastic or sharp objects in their genitals,” he told the audience.
The pair were presented with a gold medal, diploma and 9 million Swedish krona (Dh3.6 million) to share.