On Tuesday 13 December, the European Parliament awarded the 2016 edition of the Sakharov Price for the freedom of thought to Nadia Mourad Bassi Taha and Lamiya Aji Bachar, two young Yazidi women who escaped from Islamic State.
This ceremony follows the decision made on Thursday 27 October by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, and the leaders of the political groups (see EUROPE 11687).
Nadia, who managed to escape in November 2014, reported how Daesh reached Kocho, the women's home village in Iraq, on 3 August 2014. All of the men were killed and the young women were kidnapped, sold and used as sex slaves. Lamiya succeeded in escaping in April 2016, having lost an eye and being burned by a mine.
"After the Holocaust we experienced in Europe, we swore: 'never again!'. Lamiya and Nadia have reminded us of our obligation. We do not give these people enough protection, it's intolerable, a scandal!", Schulz said. Parliament's outgoing President also expressed his outrage at the fact that not a single person responsible for these crimes against humanity has as yet been brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The German Social Democrat also referred to the situation of the 2015 Sakharov Prize winner, Raif Badawi, a Saudi Arabian blogger and human rights defender, who is still in prison (see EUROPE 11455). "We call on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to free this person immediately!", he said.
The two winners said that they shared their prize with all women and girls and victims of the Islamic State and of terrorism in general. They now wish to become the voice of the voiceless and call upon Europe, in the absence of any protection from the international community, to open its doors to the Yazidi people. It is worth noting that Lamiya's younger brother, who had been held by Daesh for 18 months, saw his sister again for the first time yesterday, Monday 12 December, and was with her at the ceremony.
Of the finalists in 2016, the EPP group had supported the defender of human and minority rights, the Tatar Moustafa Djemilev, but it was the two young women of the Yazidi community, who had been put forward by the S&D and ALDE groups, who won the 2016 Sakharov prize. (Original version in French by Thomas Régnier)