Amal Clooney delivered a damning speech to the UN over the global failure to stop ISIS’ genocide and sexual enslavement of women.
During her address on Friday at the United Nations in New York the human right lawyer told delgates she was “ashamed” about the mass murder and enslavement of Yazidi men, women and children in areas of the Middle East under its control.
The 38-year-old was introducing Nadia Murad, a former ISIS sex slave who was abducted in 2014 in Northern Iraq who will now act as an ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking for the UN’s Drugs and Crime body.
Tina Brown, Nadia Basee Taha and Amal Clooney attend the Women In The World reception in New York City.
This is Amal’s full speech she made to the UN…
“Nadia’s mother was one of 80 older women who were executed and buried in an unmarked grave.
“Her brothers were part of a group of 600 murdered in a single day. Make no mistake: what Nadia has told us about is genocide, and genocide doesn’t happen by accident. You have to plan it.
“Before the genocide began two years ago, the Isis resurgence fatwa department studied the Yazidis, and concluded that as a Kurdish-speaking group that did not have a holy book, they were non-believers whose enslavement was a ‘firmly established aspect of sharia’. This is why, according to Isis’ warped morality, only Yazidis, unlike other minority groups, can be systematically raped.
“Isis even released a pamphlet entitled ‘Questions and Answers on Taking Captives and Slaves’ to provide more guidelines, [answering questions like]: ”is it permissible to have intercourse with a female slave who has not reached puberty.” [The answer was yes.]
“This is the first time I have spoken in this chamber. I wish I could say I’m proud to be here but I am 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 no justice being done and barely a complaint being made about it. I am ashamed as a woman that girls like Nadia could have their bodies sold and used as battlefields.
“I am ashamed as a human being that we ignore their cries for help. We know that what we have before us is genocide, and we know that it is still ongoing. We know exactly who the perpetrators are. They brag. Isis brags about its crimes online.
“There is no-one more blameless than the young Yazidi girl who has lost everything and who today comes before you and asks for your help. Yet two years on, two years after the genocide began, 3,200 Yazidi women and children are still held captive by Isis and not a single member of Isis has been prosecuted in a court anywhere in the world for crimes committed against the Yazidi.
“Nadia and others like her are not seeking revenge, they are seeking justice. The opportunity to face their abusers in an international court at the Hague.
“I am proud to sit beside this young woman whose strength and leadership astounds me. She has defied all the labels that life has given her: orphan, rape victim, slave, refugee. She has instead created new ones. Survivor, Yazidi leader, women’s advocate. Nobel Peace Prize nominee. And now, as of today, Goodwill ambassador.
“I am proud to know you Nadia, and I am sorry that we have failed you. I hope that your appointment today can be a turning point for all victims of sexual violence in human trafficking. And to those who thought that in their acts, they could destroy you, let them know this: Nadia Murad’s spirit is not broken and her voice will not be silenced, because as of today, Nadia is the United Nations ambassador who will speak for survivors all over the world.”
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