Yezidi doctor awarded US prize for helping traumatized victims of ISIS brutality
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish Yezidi doctor was among 14 honorees who received this year’s “International Women of Courage” award, issued by the US State Department in Washington on March 29.
Dr. Nagham Nawzad, a Yezidi gynecologist based in Dohuk in the Kurdistan region, was awarded for her work with girls kidnapped and sexually assaulted by the Islamic militants. She has offered professional help to around 710 women who survived ISIS assaults on the Yezidi community in Kurdistan and Iraq.
The annual event has been held since 2007 in Washington to encourage women’s empowerment in the world.
"Don't accept the unacceptable or wait for someone else to step up. Act in the name of justice. Act in the name of tolerance. Act on behalf of truth,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said in his speech and praised the honorees.
Four other Iraqi women received the award for their activism, but Nawzad is the first Yezidi Kurd to be honored.
The 40-year-old doctor was born in Baashiqa township north of Mosul, and completed her medical studies in both Baghdad and Mosul universities. She then volunteered to work with an international charity organization in the Kurdistan region for a decade helping underprivileged children.
“They contacted us from the US consulate in Erbil some time ago,” said Nawzad’s older brother, Ahmed. “And then they informed us that my sister was nominated for the award and asked her to travel to the US,” he told Rudaw.
Nawzad rushed to help hundreds of traumatized Yezidi women only days after their main city of Shingal had been attacked by the militants in August 2014.
She initially dedicated her clinic in Dohuk to receive and help the survivors but was given a larger office by health authorities in Dohuk province, where she and 20 other doctors and nurses offered treatment, often to very young girls.
“Some of the victims needed urgent medical attention and could have died if they were not treated,” an unnamed colleague of Nawzad in Dohuk hospital told Rudaw.
“There were several abortion cases involving very young girls who had been raped by their militant captors,” she said.
It has increasingly been difficult to produce an accurate data about the number of abducted and assaulted Yezidi women, often due to the sensitivity of the cases, with victims unwilling to share their horrific experiences.
But according to a government office, which was set up in the Kurdistan Region to help locate and bring back the abducted Yezidis. Of the 6,255 people who were kidnapped, 3,878 are still in ISIS captivity, with nearly 1,800 of them being women and children.
The Yezidi lawmaker in Iraqi parliament, Vian Dakhil, told Rudaw in December that nearly 5,820 Yezidis are still held captive, while 2,200 have been rescued or have escaped captivity.
“This award will encourage me to do more for the ISIS victims and convey their voice to the rest of the world,” Dr. Nagham told Rudaw TV at the ceremony in Washington on March 29.
The other honorees included the Russian journalist Zhanna Nemtsova, who campaigned for justice for her father, former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated last year.
Malaysian transgender rights advocate Nisha Ayub was also awarded for her “continuous activism,” even after she was sentenced to a men's prison for wearing women's clothing, where she was sexually assaulted.
Dr. Nagham Nawzad, a Yezidi gynecologist based in Dohuk in the Kurdistan region, was awarded for her work with girls kidnapped and sexually assaulted by the Islamic militants. She has offered professional help to around 710 women who survived ISIS assaults on the Yezidi community in Kurdistan and Iraq.
The annual event has been held since 2007 in Washington to encourage women’s empowerment in the world.
"Don't accept the unacceptable or wait for someone else to step up. Act in the name of justice. Act in the name of tolerance. Act on behalf of truth,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said in his speech and praised the honorees.
Four other Iraqi women received the award for their activism, but Nawzad is the first Yezidi Kurd to be honored.
The 40-year-old doctor was born in Baashiqa township north of Mosul, and completed her medical studies in both Baghdad and Mosul universities. She then volunteered to work with an international charity organization in the Kurdistan region for a decade helping underprivileged children.
“They contacted us from the US consulate in Erbil some time ago,” said Nawzad’s older brother, Ahmed. “And then they informed us that my sister was nominated for the award and asked her to travel to the US,” he told Rudaw.
Nawzad rushed to help hundreds of traumatized Yezidi women only days after their main city of Shingal had been attacked by the militants in August 2014.
She initially dedicated her clinic in Dohuk to receive and help the survivors but was given a larger office by health authorities in Dohuk province, where she and 20 other doctors and nurses offered treatment, often to very young girls.
“Some of the victims needed urgent medical attention and could have died if they were not treated,” an unnamed colleague of Nawzad in Dohuk hospital told Rudaw.
“There were several abortion cases involving very young girls who had been raped by their militant captors,” she said.
It has increasingly been difficult to produce an accurate data about the number of abducted and assaulted Yezidi women, often due to the sensitivity of the cases, with victims unwilling to share their horrific experiences.
But according to a government office, which was set up in the Kurdistan Region to help locate and bring back the abducted Yezidis. Of the 6,255 people who were kidnapped, 3,878 are still in ISIS captivity, with nearly 1,800 of them being women and children.
The Yezidi lawmaker in Iraqi parliament, Vian Dakhil, told Rudaw in December that nearly 5,820 Yezidis are still held captive, while 2,200 have been rescued or have escaped captivity.
“This award will encourage me to do more for the ISIS victims and convey their voice to the rest of the world,” Dr. Nagham told Rudaw TV at the ceremony in Washington on March 29.
The other honorees included the Russian journalist Zhanna Nemtsova, who campaigned for justice for her father, former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated last year.
Malaysian transgender rights advocate Nisha Ayub was also awarded for her “continuous activism,” even after she was sentenced to a men's prison for wearing women's clothing, where she was sexually assaulted.