21-year-old Yazidi woman begs UN Security Council to wipe out Islamic State

A young Yazidi woman pleaded on Wednesday for the United Nations Security Council to wipe out Islamic State after describing the torture and rape she suffered at hands of the militants, who abducted her as "war booty" and held her for three months.

"Rape was used to destroy women and girls and to guarantee that these women could never lead a normal life again," Nadia Murad Basee Taha, 21, told the 15-member council's first meeting on human trafficking.

"Islamic State has made Yazidi women into flesh to be trafficked in," she said of the extremist group that has seized swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Taha said she was abducted in August last year from her village in Iraq and taken by bus to a building in the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, where thousands of Yazidi women and children were exchanged by militants as gifts.

Full translation text appended below

A few days after she was taken by a man, she said: "He forced me to get dressed and put my makeup on and then that terrible night, he did it. He forced me to serve as part of his military faction, he humiliated me every day."

She tried to flee, but was stopped by a guard.

Nadia Murad Basee Taha

That night he beat me. He asked me to take my clothes off. He put me in a room with the guards and then they proceeded to commit their crime until I fainted," she said. "I implore you, get rid of Daesh (Islamic State) completely."

Taha, who said several of her brothers were killed by Islamic State militants, eventually escaped and is now living in Germany. Visibly emotional after telling her story, the members of the UN Security Council applauded her courage.

The United Nations has said that Islamic State may have committed genocide in trying to wipe out the Yazidi minority and has urged the UN Security Council to refer the issue to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.

The council said in a statement on Wednesday that it deplored people trafficking by Islamic State and other groups such as the Lord's Resistance Army and Boko Haram. It warned that "certain acts associated with trafficking in persons in the context of armed conflict may constitute war crimes."

Full text of Nadia's speech:

In her speech Nadia Murad Basee Taha stated that “We, the women and children were brought by bus to another region. Along the way, they humiliated us. They touched us and violated us. The took us to Mosul with more than 150 other Yazidi families. In a building, there were thousands of Yazidi families and children who were exchanged as gifts. One of these people came up to me. He wanted to take me. I looked down at the floor. I was absolutely petrified. When I looked up, I saw a huge man. He looked like a monster.

She further added, trying to hold back tears and keep her nerve “I cried. I cried out, I said ‘I’m too young and you’re huge.’ He hit me. He kicked me and beat me. And a few minutes later, another man came up to me. I still was looking at the floor. I saw that he was a little bit smaller. I begged him. I implored him for him to take me. I was incredibly scared of the first man. The man who took me asked me to change religion. I refused. Then, he asked my hand in marriage, so to speak.”

Struggling to relive the experience she recalled the situation of the women around her, noting that “I said that I was ill because most women were menstruating because the were scared. A few days later, he forced me to get dressed and put makeup on and then that terrible night, he did it. He forced me to serve as part as his military faction. He humiliated me every day. He forced me to wear clothes that didn’t cover my body. I was tortured. I treid to flee but one of the guards stopped me. That night, he beat me. He asked me to take my clothes off. He put me in a room with the guards, then they proceeded to commit their crime until I fainted. ”

She finally expressed bravely ending her story “Three months after my abduction, I was finally able to escape. I’m currently living in Germany.”