The 2016 SOLIDAR Silver Rose Awards in the category ‘Organising International Solidarity Award – Human Rights’ goes to… Dr. Nagham Nawzat Hasan

The winner of the 2016 SOLIDAR Silver Rose Awards in the category ‘Organising International Solidarity Award – Human Rights’ is Dr. Nagham Nawzat Hasan, she is an Ezidi activist and gynaecologist from Iraq. She will be awarded for her outstanding engagement on gender equality and combating gender-based violence. After the 2014 takeover of the city of Sinjar (Shingal) by the so called Islamic State (IS), which resulted in the attempted genocide and massacre of thousands of Ezidi and subsequent enslavement of Ezidi women, Hasan focused her efforts on rescuing and helping Ezidi girls and women traumatised by the IS. She provided psychological counseling and health screenings to those rescued and able to escape. In March 2016, Nagham Nawzat Hasan had also received the International Women of Courage Award, presented by US Secretary of State.

The 2016 Silver Rose Jury decided to honour Dr. Nawzat Hasan given the remarkable work that she is doing to help gender based violence victims of IS, on top of that she is also involved with the German NGO ‘Luftbrücke’ that is active in Kurdistan. The award will be presented by Evelyn Regner, Member of the European Parliament for the SPÖ, who has together with the Austrian delegation in the European Parliament submitted her nomination.