Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad presented global guidelines on how to safely and effectively collect evidence from survivors and witnesses of sexual violence in conflict at the United Nations today, Thursday.
Nadia Murad, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for her efforts to end rape as a weapon of war, first addressed the United Nations Security Council in 2015 when she was about 22, describing the torture and rape she suffered while enslaved by the Islamic State organization before that. History year.
The new guidelines, dubbed Murad's Law, were developed with British funding from the Nadia Initiative and the International Criminal Investigation Institute with the aim of reducing the risk of survivors experiencing further trauma when providing evidence.
"Murad's law sets clear and practical guidelines for focusing the needs of survivors when collecting evidence and ensuring that they receive justice and support rather than facing repercussions. That is the least that survivors deserve," Nadia said.
The announcement comes as the United Nations says it is increasingly hearing accounts of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine, and a Ukrainian rights group accuses Russian forces of using rape as a weapon of war.
Russia has denied attacking civilians since it invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement that she was "disturbed by the growing number of reports of sexual violence by Russian forces in the conflict in Ukraine," calling Murad's law a "vital step" towards supporting survivors and bringing perpetrators to justice.
Nadia Murad worked with renowned human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to pressure the Security Council for a United Nations investigative team to collect, preserve and store evidence of ISIL actions in Iraq that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.
The board formed the team in 2017 and began work a year later.