European Parliament awards Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
On 13 December 2016, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought jointly to Nadia Murad and fellow Yazidi survivor Lamiya Aji Bashar. The prize, the Parliament’s highest human‑rights distinction, recognized their efforts to raise global awareness of the Yazidi genocide and ISIS’s systematic use of sexual violence.
Murad and Aji Bashar, both former captives of ISIS, had chosen to speak publicly about their enslavement and the mass killings of Yazidis in Sinjar. Their speeches in Strasbourg linked personal testimony with precise demands: recognition of genocide, prosecution of perpetrators, and reconstruction of Yazidi communities. By honoring two young women who had endured sexual enslavement, the European Parliament foregrounded survivor voices within its human‑rights agenda.
The award had several lasting impacts. It strengthened political momentum in Europe for documenting ISIS crimes and supporting international investigative mechanisms. It also helped shift public and parliamentary understandings of conflict‑related sexual violence from a “private” tragedy to a matter of international peace and security. For women’s and minority history, this moment symbolized a broader recognition that women from marginalized ethno‑religious groups can be central architects of global justice campaigns, not just their subjects.