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CAMPUS Human Rights Institute Partners With Nobel Laureate to Seek Justice for Yazidi Survivors In 2022-23, a dozen students in the Human Rights Institute (HRI)’s Human Rights Advocacy in Action Practicum had the opportunity to conduct international fieldwork in Iraq and in Europe, as they sought to understand the challenges Yazidi minority communities in northwestern Iraq still face nearly a decade after genocidal attacks perpetrated by the Islamic State. The practicum partnered with Nadia’s Initiative, an organization founded by 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad, who was one of some 6,000 young women taken captive and treated as sex slaves by ISIS militants. In keynote remarks at HRI’s 2023 Samuel Dash Conference on Human Rights, Murad explained why she continues to share her story despite how painful it can be to remember the terrors she, her family and their community endured. “If people aren’t reminded of what occurred, then they won’t take action,” said Murad. Her words inspired the practicum students, who explored ways Nadia’s Initiative might use law and policy to further the Yazidis’ cause, from pursuing prosecutions in international courts, to securing development aid to rebuild their homeland, to protecting the rights of children born as a result of conflict-related sexual violence. Alexis Shanes, L’24, said of spending part of her winter break in Erbil, Iraq meeting with Yazidi community leaders, “It was the most astonishing experience, one I never thought I would be able to have in law school.” “The world needs passionate, innovative advocates,” said HRI’s Executive Director Elisa Massimino. “That’s why I came to Georgetown – to help prepare the next generation of human rights lawyers.”
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Georgetown Law
From top: Practicum students visiting the historic Citadel in Erbil, Iraq; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad giving keynote remarks at HRI’s 2023 Samuel Dash Conference on Human Rights; Practicum students at the International Criminal Court in The Hague