It is unacceptable for a woman to be rescued from captivity from ISIS to come and not have a place to live, to be put in refugee camps.
— Nadia Murad
The hope of ISIS was to break the Yazidi community. But for survivors especially, going back to their lives and getting married and making a life and working, it's basically making sure ISIS did not succeed.
Everyone was poor. We were satisfied with a life that was simple and humble. We were a peaceful, open people.
I think there was a reason God helped me escape... and I don't take my freedom for granted.
It was my dream to have a beauty parlour in our village and to live near my family in Sinjar.
I have the responsibility to translate peace and stability for future generations.
I will go back to my life when women in captivity go back to their lives, when my community has a place, when I see people accountable for their crimes.
Whenever Daesh loses territory, of course this brings me happiness.
The world has only one border. It is called humanity. The differences between us are small compared to our shared humanity. Put humans first.
We must not only imagine a better future for women, children, and persecuted minorities; we must work consistently to make it happen - prioritizing humanity, not war.
I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine.
It never gets easier to tell your story. Each time you speak it, you relive it.
What happened in Iraq and Syria was that the world remained silent as ISIS expanded.
I was the youngest girl among my siblings, a simple village girl, who perhaps was luckier than other siblings as I have the chance to go to school.
I want to learn English.
We must remain committed to rebuilding communities ravaged by genocide. Survivors deserve a safe and secure pathway home or safe passage elsewhere.
There were 2 million civilians in Mosul and 2,000 kidnapped girls there. There were thousands of families in Mosul that could have helped other girls, but they didn't. Women had to wear veils in Mosul. It would have been easy to smuggle Yazidi women out.
Every time I tell my story, I feel that I am taking some power away from the terrorists.
Justice is the only way to achieve peace and co-existence among the various components of Iraq.
I lived my childhood as a village girl in Kojo, south of Sinjar region. I did not know anything about the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yazidis have gone through traumatic experiences, and without education, there is no future for the youth.
Every day, I feel like it's the day I was freed from Daesh. Every time I speak about my story, I feel like it's the day I was liberated.
Whenever I get a call from the camps in Iraq that someone has been liberated, that so-and-so's daughter was liberated, I feel overwhelming joy again.
When genocide is committed, it must be seen. People must look at it with open eyes, not minimize its impact.
I'll see myself as a person of worth on the day when terrorists are brought to justice.
Daesh will not give up their weapons unless we force them to give up their weapons.
Deciding to be honest was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made, and also the most important.
ISIS did not come down from the sky. They found the opportunity to grow, and the world allowed them to grow.
The Yazidi people, they are very - they just want a simple life.
Sometimes I feel that my message has not been clearly heard. But that is not my fault because I feel like too much is going on in terms of women being victims.
I didn't want people to know me as a victim.
Maybe people will remember me for being a stylist, not a survivor.
The terrorists didn't think that Yazidi girls would have the courage to tell the world every detail of what they did to us. We defy them by not letting their crimes go unanswered.
There should be no place for terrorism and extremist ideas in post-ISIS Iraq. We must join forces in building our country; we must contribute together to achieve security, stability, and prosperity for the benefit of all Iraqis.
My survival case comes with a purpose and obligation, which is why I have launched Nadia's Initiative, an organisation dedicated to helping women and children who have been victimised... My initiative is trying to get support needed to get Sinjar rebuilt.
We have to work together in order to prove that genocidal campaigns will fail and lead to accountability of the perpetrators and bring justice for survivors.
I am afraid that Yazidis and Yazidism will vanish and will not be able to resist the extremists.
I never thought, in my life, I'd be sold. It's painful to say, as a human, 'I was sold.'
I was a farmer, a villager, and I was born to be such.
What is the fate of my people in Kurdistan and Sinjar Mountain? What must be done so Yazidis can have their rights?
World leaders and, particularly, Muslim religious leaders need to stand up and protect the oppressed.
I was only one of hundreds of thousands of Yazidi victims.
All in all, 18 individuals from my family are missing, including my six brothers and my mother, my brothers' wives, my nephews and nieces.
I want to create a family with my fiance and be able to live a simple life and just be safe.
