Vian Dakhil

Vian Dakhil
MP
Personal details
Born Vian Dakhil
1971 (age 44–45)
Political party Kurdistan Democratic Party
Religion Yazidi

Vian Dakhil (born 1971 in Mossoul) is a current member of the Iraqi parliament. She is the only Yazidi in the Iraqi Parliament.[1]

International notability

Dakhil gained international attention during a plea for assistance for Yazidi people trapped on Sinjar Mountains during Islamic State capture of Sinjar, accusing Islamic State of genocide against the Yazidi people. This plea[2][3] was a speech held in the Iraqi parliament held on Tuesday, 5 August. In the anglophone world, the speech has got a large audience as CNN[4] reported about and furthermore the Washington Post [5] commented on the speech.

In the francophone world it was Tunisian magazine “Kapitalis[6]”, the Algerian participative journal “ChoufChouf” [7] and the “paysagesblog” [8] in le Monde.fr which commented the plea for help of Vian Dakhil for Yazidi people faceing extermination. All the French articles included a YouTube version of Vian Dakhil speech, some with French translations. The blogpost "Je vous en supplie, frères, faîtes taire vos différences pour sauver les Yézidis!" in the "YOL (routes de Turquie et d'ailleurs) blog" has also a YouTube video of the speech including English subtitles [9]

In an Interview for Agence France-Presse, distributed by leMonde.fr on Saturday the 09 of August 2014 she warned that, if help was not arriving immediately – than a massive dying of the Yazidi people would beginn – in the French original “« Il ne reste qu'un ou deux jours pour aider ces gens. Après, il vont commencer à mourir en masse ».[10]

In February 2016 she was a speaker at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.[11]

Aid Helicopter Crash

On the 12th of August 2014, the Iraqi MP Vian Dakhil got injured when an Iraqi aid helicopter crashed during a mission to deliver aid to the Yazidi people who are under siege by ISIL in Sinjar, Mosul.[12] She reportedly broke her leg whilst the Iraqi helicopter pilot lost his life,[13] she was mistakenly reported dead on an earlier news report.

Anna Politkovskaya Award 2014

Vian Dakhil has been recognised and honoured for her important work in bringing the Yezidi people’s plight to the international community. She was congratulated by the Iraqi Parliament, and honoured by the Iraqi Women’s Network in October 2014, and was subsequently awarded the title of the Woman of the Year. She is the Winner of the 2014 Anna Politkovskaya Award for her “courage to become the voice of the Yazidi community and by her determination to campaign for the protection of all Yazidi and other Iraqi women under ISIS, despite the danger she is facing as a Yazidi woman politician opposed to ISIS”. She was crowned Woman of the Year in 2015 with an honorary prize for Arabic achievements in Dubai. She received the Bruno Kreisky Prize in Vienna, and the Nineveh honorary shield in June 2015. Recently, she was awarded the Geneva Summit Prize for Human Rights in Geneva, in February 2016. [14]

See also

2014 Northern Iraq offensive

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vian Dakhil.
  1. ↑ "Iraqi Parliament guide, official web presence of Vian Dakhil". Iraqiparliament guide. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Iraqi MP Breaks Down in Tears Pleading Parliament to Save Yazidis from Genocide". MEMRI. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Iraqi Yazidi MP Breaks Down in Parliament ISIL is Exterminating my People". YouTube. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Iraqi Yazidi lawmaker: 'Hundreds of my people are being slaughtered'". cnn.com. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  5. ↑ "The Islamic State’s bloody campaign to exterminate minorities: ‘Even Genghis Khan didn’t do this’". Washington Post. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Les Irakiennes vendues comme des esclaves au souk de Mossoul (In French)". Kapitalis. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Irak: le cri de cœur de Vian Dakhil ! (In French)". ChoufChouf. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Yazidis d’Irak – le cri d’angoisse d’une députée du parlement irakien (In French)". paysages in LeMonde.fr. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Je vous en supplie frères, faites taire vos différences pour sauver les Yézidis ! Le cri d’une députée yézidie en larmes à Bagdad. (In French)". YOL (routes de Turquie et d'ailleurs) in LeMonde.fr. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  10. ↑ "En Irak, le compte à rebours pour sauver la minorité yézidie est lancé (In French)". LeMonde.fr. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Jailed Venezuelan Opposition Leaders Antonio Ledezma & Leopoldo Lopez Win 2016 Courage Award from 25 NGOs at Geneva Summit Held at UN". GenevaSummit.org.
  12. ↑ http://heavy.com/news/2014/08/vian-dakhil-injured-crash-northern-iraq/ accessed on 12th of August 2014.
  13. ↑ http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/08/12/339823197/iraqi-helicopter-reportedly-crashes-carrying-refugees-off-mountain Accessed on the 12th of August 2014
  14. ↑ "Vian Dakhil (Iraq): Winner of the 2014 Anna Politkovskaya Award". Reach All Women in War. Retrieved December 21, 2014.


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