Trump doesn't know why Yazidi activist Nadia Murad received Nobel
If you are a stranger to Iraqi human rights activist and Nobel laureate Nadia Murad's works, you will find company in United States President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the US President met with Murad (26), who asked the former to help Yazidis of Iraq. At one point during their interaction, Trump asked Murad why was she honored with a Nobel Prize, revealing his ignorance.
'Nobel Prize? They gave it to you for what reason?'
On the sidelines of a major meeting at the State Department, Trump met Murad, joined by a group of survivors of religious persecution, in the Oval Office. Detailing the persecution, Murad explained how her mother and six brothers were killed and 3,000 Yazidis remained missing. Trump asked, "And you had the Nobel Prize? That's incredible. They gave it to you for what reason?"
'But ISIS is gone and now it's Kurdish and who?'
Murad repeated, "After all this happened to me, I didn't give up. I make it clear to everyone that ISIS raped thousands of Yazidi women." Urging Trump to mobilize Iraqi and Kurdish authorities, she added, "Please do something. It's not about one family." "But ISIS is gone and now it's Kurdish and who?" Trump asked, later telling her, "I know the area very well."
Trump frequently boasts about crushing ISIS
Interestingly, Trump often takes credit for crushing the self-styled caliphate of ISIS, which makes his ignorance on the subject all the more appalling. After his conversation with Murad, Trump said that he would "look into it very strongly."
ISIS rampaged Iraq in 2014; took thousands of Yazidi slaves
Notably, when ISIS rampaged across northern Iraq in 2014, over 6,000 Yazidi women and children were taken captive and thousands were killed. The attack and enslavement of Yazidi women was declared a genocide by the UN. The genocide left the Yazidis, an ethno-religious minority, unable to return to their homes and had to find refuge in displacement camps within Iraq, or other nations.
We cannot find a safe place to live: Murad
"My people cannot go back," Murad told the US President. "After 2014, 95,000 Yazidis emigrated to Germany, not because we want to be refugees, but because we cannot find a safe place to live. I'm still fighting to live in safety."
US bans Myanmar army chief over Rohingya crisis
Trump also displayed ignorance about Rohingyas, a Muslim minority targeted and displaced from Myanmar in a brutal campaign two years ago. A day earlier, Trump administration had banned Myanmar's army chief from traveling to the US for orchestrating an attack on Rohingya Muslims. However, United Nations Special Rapporteur to Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said the move "does not go far enough, it should go further."
After escaping ISIS, Murad drew world's attention to Yazidi genocide
Coming to Murad, she was taken slave by the ISIS in Mosul at age 19. She was tortured and raped when she tried to escape. Three months later, she managed to break free and has since worked towards helping women and children who are victims of abuse and human trafficking. In 2018, she was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize, along with Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege.
