Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Speaks at Duke

AA&D Executive Director and research partners met with Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad and fellow activist Abid Shamdeen on October 29.

On October 29, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad spoke as a part of the Crown Lecture Series in Ethics at Duke University.

Nobel Laureate Murad spoke about her work to end sexual violence as a weapon of war. As a member of the ethno-religious Yazidi community from Northern Iraq, she knows of the lasting trauma to individuals and the community that such crimes can cause. In the face of intensified persecution in recent years, she has founded a nonprofit, Nadia’s Initiative, as a platform to advocate for women’s and minorities’ rights, especially in emergency and crisis settings.

AA&D, in its partnership with Duke, initiated the work to bring Nobel Laureate Murad to the Triangle. The Crown Lecture event was a successful push to shed light on the urgent humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Already, AA&D and its partners at UNC Chapel Hill and Garmian University have established a research project to understand mental health needs and challenges in maternal and child service delivery among the Yazidi. This research began in mid-2018 among mothers and children in internal displacement camps. Looking ahead, this consortium hopes that momentum will continue to build attention and action to address the crisis facing thousands of Yazidis.

More information about the event can be found at the Sanford School of Public Policy’s feature here.