Yazidi survivors from IS trafficking win Sakharov prize 2016
Q. Who has won the Sakharov Prize 2016 on 27th Oct?- Published on 28 Oct 16a. Nadia Murad Basee
b. Lamiya Aji Bashar
c. Both of the above
d. None of the above
ANSWER: Both of the above
Two Yazidi women, Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar who escaped after sexual trafficking and enslavement by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/ISIS have won the top human rights award of the EU- the Sakharov prize.
- The announcement of the joint laureates of 2016 was made following a decision by the European Parliament on 27th Oct 2016.
- The Sakharov prize award ceremony will be held on 14th December in Strasbourg.
- Nadia Murad Basee was also appointed the UNODC Goodwill Ambassador.
- Basee and Bashar were among thousands of Yazidi girls and women abducted by IS militants and forced into sex slavery in 2014.
- Both survived and campaign for the Yazidi community currently.
- The lady activists were nominated by S&D and Liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament.
- Both Basee and Bashar are advocates for women surviving sexual enslavement by IS.
- They are both from Kocho, a village near Sinjar in Iraq taken over by the IS terrorists in 2014.
- They are public advocates of the Yazidi community in Iraq.
- The Yazidi community is a religious minority that has been subjected to a genocidal campaign by ISIS militants.
- Murad also promotes recognition of the Yazidi genocide.
- The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is annually awarded by the EU parliament.
- It was conceived in December 1988 to honour those who have dedicated their lives to fight for the cause of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
- It is awarded annually in memory of Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet scientist and dissident.
