littleflute
commented
4 years ago 00:12 [This talk contains mature content] 00:16 When I was 14, 00:18 my parents intended to marry me off to a man of their choosing. 00:23 I refused. 00:25 That choice to defy my family shaped everything in my life 00:29 and set me on the path to become who I am today. 00:32 But it was very painful at times and continues to be so. 00:36 My parents were raised in traditional, uneducated Moroccan families 00:41 where a girl's main value is measured by her virginity. 00:46 They emigrated to Belgium, 00:47 and I was born, raised and educated there. 00:51 I did not accept their view of the world. 00:54 When I said no to them, 00:56 I paid for it dearly in terms of physical and emotional abuse. 01:00 But eventually, I escaped from their home 01:03 and became a federal police detective 01:05 who could help protect the rights of others. 01:08 My specialty was investigating cases in counterterrorism, 01:12 child abduction and homicide. 01:15 I loved that work, 01:16 and it was extremely fulfilling. 01:19 With my Muslim background, Arabic language skills 01:22 and an interest in working internationally, 01:25 I decided to seek new challenges. 01:28 After decades of being a police officer, 01:30 I was recruited to become an investigator of sexual and gender-based violence 01:35 as a member of the Justice Rapid Response and UN Women roster. 01:40 Justice Rapid Response is an organization 01:42 for criminal investigations of mass atrocities. 01:45 They run on both public and private funding 01:49 and provide evidence and reports to more than 100 participating countries. 01:54 Many countries in conflict are often unable to provide a just process 01:58 to those who have been victims of mass violence. 02:01 To respond to that, 02:02 Justice Rapid Response was created in partnership with UN Women. 02:07 Together, 02:08 Justice Rapid Response and UN Women recruited, trained and certified 02:13 more than 250 professionals 02:16 with a specific expertise in sexual and gender-based violence, 02:19 like me. 02:21 Our investigations are carried out under international law, 02:25 and our findings eventually become evidence to prosecute war criminals. 02:30 This mechanism provides hope to victims 02:33 that justice and accountability may someday be found 02:36 in the wake of war and conflict. 02:40 Let me tell you about the most challenging work I have ever done. 02:44 This was in Iraq. 02:47 Since the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, 02:52 this group has systematically attacked and tortured 02:55 many religious minorities and ethnicities, 02:58 such as the Christians, 03:00 the Shia Turkmen, Shia Muslims, Shia Shabaks and the Yazidis. 03:05 The persecution of the Yazidis has been especially horrific. 03:10 On the 3rd and 15th of August 2014, 03:13 ISIS attacked approximately 20 villages and towns in Sinjar, Iraq. 03:19 They executed all the males over the age of 14, 03:23 including the elderly and disabled. 03:26 They divided up the women and girls, 03:28 raped them 03:29 and sold them into sexual and domestic slavery. 03:32 One month later, 03:33 a UN Human Rights Council resolution led to the fact-finding mission on Iraq 03:38 to investigate and document alleged violations and abuses 03:42 committed by ISIS and associated groups. 03:45 I was sent to investigate the atrocities committed against the Yazidis, 03:49 with a focus on sexual and gender-based crimes. 03:52 The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking ethnoreligious community 03:56 based in Northern Iraq. 03:58 Their belief system incorporates aspects of Judaism, Christianity, 04:03 Islam and Zoroastrianism. 04:06 For hundreds of years, 04:07 Muslims and Christians who do not understand their beliefs 04:11 have condemned the Yazidis as devil worshippers. 04:15 ISIS thought of them in this way and vowed to destroy them. 04:20 OK, let's do an experimental thought here. 04:24 I want you to think about your worst sexual experience 04:28 and recall it in detail. 04:32 Now turn to the person to your right 04:35 and describe that experience. 04:37 (Laughter) 04:41 I know it's difficult, eh? 04:43 (Laughter) 04:45 But, of course, I don't expect you to do that. 04:47 You would all be uncomfortable and embarrassed. 04:50 And so imagine an 11-year-old girl in the Middle East 04:54 who was not educated about sexuality, 04:57 who was taken from her comfort zone, 04:59 her family, 05:00 who witnessed the execution of her father and brothers, 05:04 having to describe in detail 05:06 the rape that she faced in a culture where talking about sexuality is taboo. 05:12 Her only way of recovering her honor is to hide the crime, 05:17 believe she was married against her will, 05:19 or deny the events out of shame and fear of being rejected. 05:24 I interviewed a girl who I will call "Ayda." 05:26 She was purchased by an ISIS leader, or emir, 05:29 together with 13 other girls aged between 11 and 18 years old. 05:34 Amongst the group were her three nieces and two cousins. 05:37 The 14 girls were taken to a house full of ISIS fighters. 05:41 An imam was present who made it clear that their religion was wrong, 05:45 and the only good path was to accept Islam and marry a Muslim man. 05:51 The emir wrote the names of the girls on 14 small pieces of paper. 05:56 Two ISIS fighters would pick a piece of paper each. 06:00 They would call out the name written on the paper, 06:03 and those girls were forcibly taken into another room. 06:07 While the emir and the imam heard the two girls screaming 06:10 as they were being raped, 06:12 they began laughing. 06:15 Both were telling the other girls 06:16 that the two girls should enjoy the experience instead of screaming. 06:20 After a while, the girls were brought back into the room. 06:24 They were in shock and were bleeding. 06:27 They confirmed that they had been married and suffered a lot of pain. 06:31 It is important to consider the fact that they had been raised 06:35 to believe in sexual intercourse with one man in their lifetime: 06:38 their husband. 06:40 The only connection that they could make in their shocked state 06:44 is to define their rape as marriage. 06:48 Before the next two girls were taken to be raped, 06:51 Ayda made a terrifying decision. 06:54 As the oldest of the group, she convinced the emir 06:56 to let them use the bathroom in order to wash themselves before marriage. 07:01 Ayda had been told by one of the girls 07:03 that she noticed rat poison in the bathroom. 07:06 The 14 girls decided to end their suffering 07:09 by drinking the poison. 07:12 Before the poison took full effect, 07:14 they were discovered by ISIS and taken to the hospital, 07:17 where they survived. 07:19 ISIS decided to separate the girls 07:21 and sell them individually. 07:24 Ayda was taken to another house and brutally raped 07:28 after she attempted again to kill herself with her headscarf. 07:32 She was beaten and raped every two days. 07:35 After four months in captivity, 07:38 Ayda found the courage to escape. 07:41 She never saw the other 13 girls again. 07:44 I interviewed Ayda multiple times. 07:47 She was willing to speak to me because she had heard from other victims 07:50 that there was a woman from the UN who understood her complicated culture. 07:55 I looked into her eyes 07:56 and listened deeply to the stories of her darkest hours. 08:00 We established a personal connection that continues to this day. 08:04 My upbringing made it easy for me to understand her extreme sense of shame 08:09 and her fear of being rejected. 08:12 These types of investigations are not only about gathering information and evidence, 08:16 but they're also about victim support. 08:19 The bonds I established with the victims 08:21 strengthens their confidence and willingness to seek justice. 08:26 As she considered her escape, 08:27 Ayda, like all Yazidi survivors, 08:30 faced a dilemma: 08:32 Should she continue to suffer the abuse of her captors, 08:36 or would it be better to return home, 08:39 where she would face shame, rejection 08:42 and possibly honor killing? 08:46 I know all too well the pain of being rejected 08:48 by my Moroccan community in Belgium, 08:50 and I did not want this to happen to the Yazidi community. 08:54 So a group of concerned entities, 08:55 including the UN, NGOs, politicians and members of the Yazidi community 09:01 approached a religious leader, 09:03 Baba Sheikh. 09:04 After many meetings, 09:05 he realized that these girls had not disrespected their religion 09:09 by being forcibly converted to Islam 09:11 and married to ISIS fighters. 09:13 Instead, they have been abducted, raped and sexually enslaved. 09:19 I am happy to report that, after our meetings, 09:21 Baba Sheikh announced publicly 09:23 that the survivors should be treated as victims 09:26 and embraced by the community. 09:28 This message was heard throughout the community 09:31 and eventually reached the survivors being held captive by ISIS. 09:35 After his declaration of support, 09:37 the survivors were motivated to escape from ISIS 09:40 as Ayda has done, 09:42 and many young Yazidi women took the bold step 09:45 and returned home to their communities. 09:47 Baba Sheikh's public pronouncement 09:50 saved the lives of many young Yazidi women, 09:52 both in captivity and after their escape. 09:56 Sadly, not all religious leaders agreed to talk with us. 10:00 Some victims had far worse outcomes than the Yazidis. 10:04 For example, only 43 of the 500-600 victims 10:08 from the Shia Turkmen community 10:10 were able to return home after escaping ISIS. 10:14 Some of them were advised by their family 10:16 to stay with ISIS 10:18 or commit suicide in order to save the honor of the family. 10:22 Germany established a project to support survivors of ISIS 10:26 by providing psychosocial support and housing for 1,100 women and children, 10:31 including Ayda. 10:32 I visited Ayda several times during my work. 10:35 I am so proud of her and the other victims. 10:38 The progress they have made is remarkable. 10:41 It is really moving to see how many of them, 10:44 despite their struggles, 10:45 have benefited from this program. 10:48 The program includes individual and group counseling, 10:51 art therapy, music therapy, 10:53 sport activities, 10:54 language courses, 10:56 school and other integration efforts. 10:58 What I observed was that removing the victims 11:01 from an area of conflict to a country at peace 11:04 had a positive impact on all of them. 11:07 This project caught the attention of other countries, 11:10 and they were interested to help more Yazidis. 11:14 The Yazidi women and girls still call and text me 11:17 to tell me about their grades at school, 11:19 fun trips they've taken, 11:20 or to inform me about their future dreams, 11:23 like writing a book about what they have faced with ISIS. 11:27 Sometimes they are sad 11:28 and feel the need to talk again about the events. 11:31 I'm not a psychologist, 11:33 and I have faced secondary PTSD from their horrific stories. 11:37 But I keep encouraging them to talk, 11:39 and I keep listening, 11:40 because I do not want them to feel alone in their suffering. 11:44 Through these anecdotes, 11:45 I see a bigger picture emerging. 11:48 These women and girls are healing. 11:50 They are no longer afraid to seek justice. 11:54 Without hope there can be no justice, 11:57 and without justice there can be no hope. 12:01 Every 3rd and 15th of August, it's my remembrance day, 12:04 and I reach out to the Yazidis to let them know that I'm thinking about them. 12:09 They're always happy when I do that. 12:11 It's an emotional day for them. 12:13 This past August, I spoke with Ayda. 12:16 She was so happy to announce 12:18 that one of her nieces who was abducted with her 12:21 was finally released out of ISIS hands in Syria 12:24 and returned to Iraq. 12:26 Can you believe that? 12:27 After four years? 12:29 Today, her biggest wish is for her whole family, 12:32 now located across three continents, 12:35 to be reunited. 12:36 And I hope they will. 12:38 When I think about the survivors I work with, 12:41 I remember the words of an Egyptian doctor, writer 12:44 and human rights activist, 12:46 Nawal El Saadawi. 12:48 In her book, "Woman at Point Zero," 12:51 she wrote, "Life is very hard, 12:53 and the only people who really live 12:56 are those who are harder than life itself." 12:59 These victims have been through unimaginable pain. 13:04 But with a little help, 13:05 they show how resilient they are. 13:08 Each has their own perspective on what kind of justice she seeks, 13:12 and I believe deeply 13:13 that a credible justice process is key 13:16 to how she reclaims her dignity 13:18 and finds closure with her trauma. 13:21 Justice is not only about punishing the perpetrator. 13:24 It's about victims feeling that crimes committed against them 13:28 have been recorded and recognized by the rule of law. 13:32 For me, it has been the experience of a lifetime 13:35 to work with these survivors. 13:37 Because I share their sorrow, 13:39 their language and their culture, 13:41 we connect on the deepest human level. 13:44 This itself is an act of healing: 13:48 to be heard, to be seen, 13:51 to be given compassion instead of condemnation. 13:54 When we get so close to people in pain, 13:57 it creates pain for the investigators, too. 14:01 My work is challenging, heartbreaking and trauma-inducing. 14:06 But let me tell you why I do it. 14:08 When I meet the survivors of these mass atrocities, 14:12 when I hold their hands and look in their eyes, 14:16 it does not erase my own pain, 14:19 but it does make it almost worthwhile. 14:22 And there's nothing I would rather be doing. 14:25 When I see these brave survivors 14:27 struggling to connect again to their own self-worth, 14:31 to their families, to their place in a society that values them, 14:36 it is an honor to bear witness; 14:39 it is a privilege to seek justice. 14:42 And that is healing, too -- 14:45 for all of us. 14:47 Thank you. 14:48 (Applause)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD8Ggp0YsWM