Amal Clooney, Nadia Murad Basee Taha. Photo: Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire
United Nations, New York, USA, September 16 2016 – Amal Clooney, International human rights lawyer Participated on the Appointment Ceremony of Nadia Murad Basee Taha as UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking today at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Amal Clooney, Nadia Murad Basee Taha Photo: Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire
Nobel Peace Prize nominee Nadia Murad Basee Taha – who survived trafficking at the hands of ISIL (Da’esh) – was formally appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.
This designation marks the first time a survivor of atrocities is bestowed with this distinction.
Amal Clooney, Nadia Murad Basee Taha Photo: Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire
At the induction ceremony in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recognized Nadia’s resolve to serve as a voice for the voiceless.
Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman, described being rounded up with fellow Yazidis in Iraq in 2014 and witnessing ISIL fighters shooting men and boys in cold blood. She was subject to grave abuses at the hands of ISIL fighters and was bought and sold various times.
Amal Clooney, International human rights lawyer Participated on the Appointment Ceremony of Nadia Murad Basee Taha as UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking today at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Amal Clooney, Nadia Murad Basee Taha Photo: Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire
She said “I stand with you today to represent those who are gone from us. We cannot bring them back. With them in mind always we’ll fight on, we have to continue fighting.”
Amal Clooney, Nadia Murad Basee Taha Photo: Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire
Nadia also said “As you have heard the night of August 3rd 2014 everything changed. Daesh (ISIL) came to kidnap, to murder, to rape. This was genocide. It is that simple in a matter of days if not hours, thousands of Yazidis were killed and thousands of women and children were taken just because they were Yazidis. I was taken to Mosul with others, I was used in the way they wanted to use me, I was not alone, and perhaps I was the lucky one. As time passed I found a way to escape whereas thousand others could not. They are still captive.”
Amal Clooney, International human rights lawyer Participated on the Appointment Ceremony of Nadia Murad Basee Taha as UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking today at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Amal Clooney, Nadia Murad Basee Taha Photo: Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire
Also speaking at the event, Human Rights lawyer Amal Clooney said “this is the first time I have spoken in this chamber and the first time I have the chance to address a crowd in front of the UN Secretary-General. I wish I could say I was proud to be here, cut I’m not. I am ashamed as a supporter of the United Nations that States are failing to prevent or even punish genocide because they find that their own interests get in the way. I am ashamed as a lawyer that there is not justice being done and merely a complain being made about it. I am ashamed as a woman that girls like Nadia can have their bodies sold and used as battlefields. I am ashamed as a human being that we ignore their cries for help.”
Nadia was recently named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2016”.
As UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking, Nadia’s main goals is to focus on advocacy initiatives and to raise awareness around the plight of millions of victims of trafficking, especially refugees, women, and girls. She has also been asked to speak at the opening of the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants to be held on 19 September.
Source: UNTV and EuropaNewswire