Murad, who survived the 2014 ISIS genocide in Shingal, said there has been some notable progress in stabilizing the Yezidi homelands in Iraq, but her people will not feel secure and able to return until they are given their rights and justice.
“I do see progress because of the work we have done over the past four years,” said Murad during the ceremony in the Norwegian capital.
“The most important thing from day one has been justice. That’s needed in order to return.”
“Steps have been taken, but so much violence is still happening, so we can see not enough is being done despite our efforts. Sometimes there are boundaries to providing help,” she added.
Murad is especially critical of the previous Iraqi government’s neglect of the Yezidis, urging the international community and online activists to apply pressure.
“It didn’t give anyone their rights before or after ISIS. Looking at the previous government, we haven’t seen any help in the past four years. We hope the new government will help everyone in the country unlike previous governments. My hope is they will give more women’s rights,” said Murad.
“The young people can raise their voice ... The people in countries where you have more freedom and rights. Even before ISIS we did not have the freedom to express our rights. The young people from everywhere in the world can raise their voices on the internet and social media. You can open up peoples’ minds so they aren’t joining ISIS and continuing violence,” she added.
Asked by Rudaw correspondent Ala Shali whether she believes Shingal will recover, Murad said the Yezidi people must not lose their ancestral home.
“Yes from day one I’ve been saying the aim for all Yezidis is to not lose Shingal. I’m not the one who can singly rebuild Shingal,” she said.
“I can be the voice of our people. Day by day we’ll have to restructure our region.”
Murad has worked with human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and other international agencies to help keep the Yezidi plight on the agenda and bring ISIS militants to justice. The Nobel winner said she and other Yezidi women will not feel safe until justice is done.
“I’m a joyful, outgoing person. I don’t want to live in fear. For the past four years I’ve been in Germany but I still am frightened that these people will harm me or other people in our community. But I’m hopeful this fear will go and we will be able to live freely,” she said.
Murad says she was at Harvard University with her fiancee when she learned she had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
“The first thing that came to my mind was my mother. I cried a lot. I bear the hardships and difficulties that our people have been facing,” she said.
“I was afraid to see my name on the list because at times I have faced fear.”
To this day she often struggles to sleep, she said.
Murad shared the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize with Dr Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist and women’s rights campaigner who runs a clinic for victims of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“The award is on behalf of all the Yezidi people and all the people of the DRC,” said Murad.
“I am thankful Dr. Mukwege has been doing this work for 20 years for girls and women,” she added.
In his Nobel acceptance speech, Dr. Mukwege said sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war is a global problem which needs a global response in peacetime.
“You, the youth, can lead the struggle towards greater equality between men and women,” said Mukwege.
He blamed a culture of “toxic masculinity” and a failure on the part of governments – particularly his own in the DRC – to protect their citizens.
Mukwege described the moment he heard the news of his Nobel win.
“I heard about it in the operating room during surgery. I had forgotten that October 5 was the day of the announcement. When I heard the noise in the hospital I was worried there had been a bad incident. Then another doctor came and notified me.
“It was an emotional moment. They came and took me out of the operating room. When you hear the news, it takes a lot out of you,” he said.
“I have been living at the hospital since 2012. It’s where I live and work. I moved to the hospital for security reasons – written threats, people call to threaten you. This is not an easy life. But there is strength around us. The women are the first to give me strength.”
