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<\/h2>\nThe 2023 Samuel Dash Conference on Human Rights focused on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and efforts to center the perspectives of survivors in recovery, accountability, and prevention.<\/p>\n
Featuring advocates and survivor champions from around the world, the conference engaged lawyers and experts who are working to advance new strategies that put the needs, wishes, and human rights of survivors front and center. The conference also shed light on the unique experiences of male and LGBTQ+ survivors of CRSV and examined the inequities in support systems for these groups. Finally, the conference explored the “deep-rooted political, socioeconomic, cultural, environmental, and institutional drivers of conflict” as identified by the UN Framework for the Prevention of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and examined approaches to preventing CRSV.<\/p>\n
<\/h2>\nMore than eight years after ISIS carried out its large-scale massacre and abduction of the Yazidis in 2014, the Yazidi community is still waiting for justice and accountability. To date, no international body or Iraqi court has tried ISIS members for genocide or sexual violence against the Yazidis. Nearly 200,000 Yazidis still remain displaced in internal displacement camps. An estimated 2,800 women and girls who were abducted are still missing. Survivors of sexual violence\u2014many of whom have borne children as a result of rape\u2014face legal and other barriers to rejoining their families and communities in Sinjar. The international community, including the United States, has a responsibility to advance justice and accountability for ISIS\u2019s crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The keynote by 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad featured her work at the forefront of the global effort to hold ISIS accountable for its crimes. Ms. Murad emphasized the need to place survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) at the center of justice and accountability mechanisms, including by adhering to the principles outlined in the Murad Code on gathering and using information about CRSV.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSurvivors want justice. We deserve justice,\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0declared Ms. Murad. \u201cWe want the perpetrators to be held accountable. We want assistance in rebuilding our lives and on our own terms. We want, more than anything, for no one else to ever have to live with the trauma and violence that we have.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ms. Murad called on governments to turn policies into concrete action and on audience members to do their part to invest financial, political, and social resources in survivor-centric organizations.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cSociety asks survivors to share their stories,\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Ms. Murad stated.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t let it be in vain.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n She closed her keynote with the message that\u00a0<\/span>\u201ctogether, we can build a world where conflict-related sexual violence is a disturbing story from our past, not our current reality.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Nadia Murad<\/strong>, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Human Rights Activist; Co-founder of Nadia\u2019s Initiative; UNODC Goodwill Ambassador; Co-founder of the Global Survivors Fund; Author of <\/span>The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Watch the keynote below.<\/p>\nKeynote Speaker<\/h3>\n