 Well, good morning Good morning Good morning. Welcome to USIP. My name is Michael Yaffe. I'm the vice president here at USIP for the Middle East and Africa programs and We are in delighted to be welcoming you all here For an event that we are co-sponsoring with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office of the United States and Nadia's initiative. I Want to extend a very special and warm welcome to Nobel Prize laureate and founder of Nadia initiative Miss Nadia Murad who is visiting us here at USIP for the first time. I Also want to welcome Representative Stanley Kow and thank you for your partnership in this initiative in this event today Welcome to all of you. Welcome to ambassador Kelly Curry to special advisor Knox Thames to special representative Max Primeroff Max I think you're Max and Everyone else who has joined us To those of you who have been to USIP before welcome back to the Institute and For those of you new and this is your first time to the Institute welcome And let me briefly introduce who we are The US Institute of Peace was founded in 1984 Has an act of Congress to establish an institution devoted to the prevention the mitigation and resolution of violent conflict We are we work throughout the world to basically take analysis of conflict And apply it in ways that we can help to resolve conflicts And we're working throughout the world in Africa in Asia in the Middle East and Latin America And it and during this time one of our most significant programs one of our longest programs deals with Iraq We have been in Iraq since 2003 continuously and We have been dealing with many of the key issues in Iraq Including the plight of Iraq's minorities As I said, we have been working in Iraq on various conflicts to resolve through negotiation and agreements Including those that have been dealing with the issues of the respect for Iraqi minorities We have been negotiated in areas of Tikrit in Hobaja in Talifah And we are working with directly with the communities With their leaders with the civic leaders with the representatives in Including engagements with the government of Iraq and with the Kurdish regional government This work as I said includes supporting religious minority communities as they recover from the devastation left behind by ISIS We are working currently in Ninova province and working in many of the towns in those areas And we have been expanding our dialogues in Iraq particularly through the alliance of Iraqi minorities We work with partners on the ground We work with all with the minorities to empower minority groups including Asedis We work with the Christians we with the Shabaks We work with all the all the minority groups in order to empower them So they have a say into their own future to help them and resolve internal communal disputes It has now been over a year and a half since Iraq defeated the military presence of ISIS And yet many people remain internally displaced many Asedis remain displaced and other minorities Are basically languishing in I internally displaced people camps with little prospect of returning home in the near future Today we are fortunate and very pleased to welcome a leading advocate of the Asedis people a victims of sexual and gender-based violence a noble prize laureate UN goodwill ambassador Miss Nadia Marat Miss Marat was a survivor of the 19 of sorry of the 2014 genocide against the Asedis people She will speak about her work with Nadia's initiative Which is dedicated to rebuilding communities in crisis and affecting and advocating globally for victims of violence Before we hear from miss Marat, we will also hear from our co-hosts the honorable Stanley cow Representative of Taiwan to the United States He would be followed by Ambassador Kelly Curie from the State Department office of global criminal justice and Then we will hear from Knox Thames special representative for religious minorities at the State Department Miss Marat will first speak directly to the audience and Then she will present a certificate of an appreciation to the government of Taiwan for their contribution to Nadia's initiative She would then sit down with our director of USIP's Middle East programs Sarhang Hamasai for a moderated discussion And now a little housekeeping You should have received cards when you came in for writing down questions Which we will collect for the moderated discussion If you are tweeting about our conversation today, please use hashtag Nadia Marat USIP in your tweets So now please join me in welcoming our event co-host Representative cow. Thank you Well, thank you very much. Mr. Yoff and Nadia and Ambassador Curie all distinguished guests colleagues and friends As a proud member of the global coalition my government welcomes the continued Significant progress made in liberating territories previously controlled by the ISIS however Victory in combat is only part of the story and the Taiwan is committed To working with all partners all partners the United States like minded countries and International NGOs and making every effort necessary towards civilization and humanitarian assistance And speaking of the global coalition General John Allen is currently visiting Taiwan with a policy dedication and Of course, he was the one help organize this global coalition some five years ago And he couldn't be more excited and proud With this momentous gathering here today at USIP and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo When elaborating a free and open Indo-Pacific strategy not long ago and He specifically described Taiwan's road as and I quote a democratic success story a Reliable partner and the force for good in the world and unquote and We appreciate and believe in its words because that's what Taiwan today's Taiwan is about No standing tall and strong and as an unmistakable and indispensable partner in the world both Bilaterally and multilaterally to address global and regional challenges freedom of religion Ebola pandemics Women's empowerment disaster relief and humanitarian assistance and as 2019 also marks the 40th anniversary of Taiwan Relations Act the rock solid In a cornerstone and a legal framework of relations between our two countries and Also an enduring partnership between United States and the Taiwan and our joint endeavor on this and all those fronts had become an even more significant So it is the major reason why we gather here today as we are deeply inspired and touched By miss Nadia Murrow's the courage and his advocacy and for her suffering people and Taiwan's half million US dollars contribution Maybe Small and small amount, but it shows a much bigger bigger heart on a part of our government and our citizens and Taiwan is among the first in a coalition to answer Secretly Pompeo's call for help so during the February ministerial and The quick note is that over the past few years Now Taiwan our government and NGOs have provided over 33 million US dollars in cash and in kind humanitarian assistance to a displaced refugees and the returnees in the region including hundreds of temporary housing units a Mobile hospital funds and equipment for demining operation So wish to have a work cut out And to accomplish our final goal But please rest assured that Taiwan is more than willing really Unavailable to help and thank you very much for having me and if I have the honor to have Ambassador Curry to speak Thank you very much Thank you Stanley for inviting me up and thank you to US IP and Tech row for asking me to join you today It's such an honor for me to be here to represent the State Department today at this important ceremony Recognizing Taiwan's contribution to Nadia's initiative that will allow it to continue its incredible work on behalf of the Yazidi people and It's incredible efforts to help work for a world. That's free of genocide and mass atrocities It this is a huge personal and professional honor to be participating in this ceremony and to be here with you all today When Taiwan first offered to make this contribution to Nadia's initiative It was at the defeat ISIS coalition for administers meeting in February of this year And we're so thrilled to see that this donation has come to fruition today This gift is a testament to the shared values Human rights and respect for the dignity of all people that underpin are important and enduring friendship with Taiwan It's really meaningful to be a part of this because when I first met Nadia It was while I was working with Ambassador Nikki Haley at the US mission to the UN where we were fighting to End ISIS reign of terror in Iraq and Syria and where we were fighting to get the UN to take action on behalf of the Yazidi people And it's incredible. It's been just amazing to watch How Nadia has taken the the personal trauma that she has suffered The the horrors that she and her community have lived through and turned them into this amazing amazing initiative and Into and use her story to tell the story of her people in a way that has touched so many of us It is she's she's not just a voice for her people now but a voice for all people who who are survivors of atrocities and She no one could have been more deserving of the Nobel Prize And it was it was thrilling with along with so many people who know Nadia and who've seen her grow into this incredible Role to see her receive that award. It couldn't be a more deserving one for a more deserving person we share a common commitment to The idea that when a conflict ends it's not really over until the healing of the people affected by that conflict begins and We share the common goal of holding the perpetrators accountable, and that's what my office at the State Department does I'm currently working in the office of global criminal justice what used to be called the war crimes office and The animating idea of our office is about accountability Accountability for the most serious grave gross human rights abuses perpetrated in the world genocide Crimes against humanity and war crimes and ethnic cleansing These are the issues that we work on day-to-day, and it's very rare that we have someone like Nadia to work with who understands so personally the trauma and the the challenges of dealing and coming to terms with these mass atrocities But also has the savvy and the skills to actually do the things that need to be done to get out there and advocate for her People in a way that she has done. It's just truly amazing, and we know how important Accountability is and we're not going to stop working for it And that is the pledge that I continue to make to you and that the department will continue to make We know why it's important We know that it shows the survivors and the victims that the international community not only takes what happened to them Seriously, but is taking action to make sure that there is justice for them And we know how important it is to help them rebuild their communities and move on to a brighter future So at the State Department, we have a really long history of working with the Yazidi community and other Religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East We've publicly acknowledged that ISIS is responsible for genocide against the Yazidis Christians and Shia Muslims in areas Controlled and crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing against those groups and in some cases against Sunni Muslims curves and other minorities This year we've provided two million dollars to the UN investigative team for accountability of Daesh unit had Created by the Security Council in 2017 to collect store and preserve evidence of ISIS atrocities that may amount to war crimes crimes against humanity and genocide Our contribution to unit had helped to help it to begin its exhumation of mass graves in Sinjar and That is that an event that was incredibly important for the Yazidi people And we're so pleased to have been able to support that and what it represents to your community Last year Congress also appropriated five million dollars to our office to support grants to be awarded in an open and competitive Process to promote accountability in Iraq and Syria and we're working really hard to get those Funds out to NGOs and other organizations that can help build the important evidentiary cases and help the healing to move forward in these communities The United States has also provided millions of dollars to vulnerable communities in Iraq for infrastructure repair The restoration of services and livelihoods and Psychosocial assistance to the victims of ISIS to help them begin this difficult work of rebuilding their lives Tech Rose contribution today hopes to continue this effort and we're so pleased to be able to join in them today in marking this important gift Now I'd like to introduce my colleague my very good colleague and our next speaker Knox Thames Who's this at the special advisor for religious minorities and the Office of International Religious Freedom? Thank you so much Well, it's a great honor to be here this morning. I'm gonna thank USIP and Tech Row for organizing this important event I also want to thank Ambassador Curry who's a great advocate and ally in the State Department as we work together to promote justice and accountability Around the world including in Iraq where the genocide that ISIS perpetrator has left deep scars and Will need a long time to heal as was mentioned. I serve as the special advisor for religious minorities in the State Department We believe that all people regardless of religion including religious minorities Should be able to practice their beliefs freely and peacefully without fear of violence or retribution No one no one should suffer violence because of his or her religious or ethnic identity Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened in 2014 When ISIS swept into northern Iraq and targeted Yazidis and other religious and ethnic minorities ISIS killed or captured thousands of Yazidis and displaced Hundreds of thousands more many of whom remain displaced today During my multiple visits to Iraq into the region I've seen the vibrancy of these religious minority communities that have existed there for millennia But I've also seen that they live a precarious and fragile existence The spring witnessed two very Encouraging events in northern Iraq the marking of the Yazidi New Year and Easter The Yazidis were able to celebrate and the Christians were able to gather and we saw heartwarming and encouraging stories about Communities becoming revitalized But while ISIS has been removed The crisis is not over The crisis is not over for Yazidis as long as thousands of Yazidi women and children remain missing Either enslaved or murdered I've met with the Baba Sheikh the Yazidi spiritual leader and with survivors like Nadia and Family members who are still looking for loved ones And we are committed to working with the Yazidi people to find these people and to see them return to their families The crisis is not over for minorities if ISIS members are not held accountable Justice means more than perpetrators being tried for terrorism against the Iraqi state It means where possible convicting ISIS members for their crimes against individual minorities the torture kidnapping rape enslavement or murder The crisis is not over if the human rights for religious minorities in Iraq is not respected in law and policy and by all members of society And the crisis will not be over if people cannot go home We've received encouraging reports about attendance at Easter masses exceeding pre ISIS numbers at major cathedrals I also have personally visited Yazidi temples when they've been reopened at just by the hands of the ZD community coming together to Rebuild and restructure their places of worship We've also launched two programs where we've sent the Smithsonian Institution to help train Yazidis Christians and other minorities about steps they can take to preserve the religious culture However for displaced civilians including many Yazidis Christians and others the simple act of returning home has yet to take place Because of the physical and economic insecurity in liberated areas Now we're very encouraged by the opening of key roads in northern Iraq But we want to see more and I want to highlight that the personal commitment of the vice president of this has been transformative and also highlight the great work of my colleague max primarac who's been sent out to northern Iraq to lead that effort and so Max is an example of the US government's Commitment to remain diplomatically and programmatically to help recreate conditions where religious minorities feel like they have a future in their ancestral homelands We cannot do this alone, which is why we're so grateful for partners like Taiwan And others for supporting the important work of groups like Nadia's initiative, which is making a tangible impact on the ground Here in Washington. We're also working multilaterally to advance religious freedom around the world Last year secretary Pompeo convene the first ever ministerial to advance religious freedom Bringing together more than 80 governments and hundreds of members of civil society and religious communities We will host a second ministerial in three weeks And we hope to continue making strides towards a world in which all people including religious minorities are free to follow the dictates of their conscience Nadia will again be a speaker At the ministerial, but I now it's my great pleasure to introduce her to you all so we can all Hear her share It's a great honor and privilege to always be around Nadia She is a great example of someone who turned unimaginable pain into hope and action Nadia is a world-renowned human rights activist and advocate for survivors of genocide and sexual violence Last year she became the first Iraqi ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize She has raised her voice around the world including at the United Nations Security Council and in 2016 became the first ever UN goodwill ambassador for the dignity of survivors of human trafficking Most importantly, and I think you'll see this when you hear from her. She is a woman of great and deep character With a passion for helping those in need Her courage is an inspiration to myself and will be for all of us So without further ado, please welcome Nadia Marad Thank you Good morning, everyone. I'm happy to be here with everyone Appreciative of all the efforts of everyone here that has been supporting the easy-to-cause And I'm happy to talk about these issues today here I These are important issues of Existential for the minorities in Iraq and in that region that need to be discussed There is support for minorities, but further support is needed to make sure that minorities remain in that region Like nox mentioned just now no one should Be targeted because of their fate because of their religion or because they're a woman and that's what exactly what happened But this is ongoing because Minorities like easy these and Christians and others in that region are facing Many challenges and are slowly disappearing from that region and this is something that we need to work I Many families of the easy-to-community are still Facing what happened to them in 2014 included in my own family for example I have two nephews that are still missing in captivity somewhere my sister-in-law and nine of my brothers who Were killed by ISIS. We still don't know when we will recover their bodies and bury them But still despite all this we fight as a community our community is Resilient and we have been fighting to face these challenges and help our community recover from this genocide Again, I'm happy to be here. We will discuss some of these issues on the panel in a minute But I would like to thank the government of Taiwan for their support to the easy community Yes Yeah, we will talk about these issues, but at the moment I guess Nadia will Hand out a certificate to ambassador cow if you can please go on the stage. Good morning again My name is Sarang Hamas. I eat the middle the director of Middle East programs here at US IP I'm gonna be I have the honor of moderating this session Dear Nadia, it is really really an honor for me to be here on stage with you As you can probably tell I'm here with mixed feelings One side of me is here with the feeling of great pain that we are here to talk about Recovery from genocide heinous crimes that continue to happen. I Remember my Grandparents telling me about these kind of horrible crimes that happened. I remember them happening in 1988 perpetrated by the government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein and the bath party only few years before you were even born and I Saw them continue continue mass murder at the camp spiker and then genocide against the SD's and the Christians in 2014 perpetrated by ISIS and Unfortunately the the mindset of and the conditions for genocide continue On a positive note, I have a lot of I have a great feeling of hope admiration and respect for you and survivors of genocide Because your story is A story of human resilience at its finest. So thank you for what you do Before I start my questions I wanted to probably a note you may have realized that I were used the word SD not Yazidi and Probably one takeaway for you is that actually Yazidi is not the correct name of this community and One takeaway is if we can start by trying to change and call them how they call themselves So you will not hear the word Yazidi from me if it slips. I apologize, but is the is how they call themselves so Nadia, I mean you've Alluded to through this, but can you tell us a little bit more in your own words? What Nadia's initiatives seek to accomplish and what challenges you face and the SD people face as they try to recover from the heinous crimes of ISIS Thank you First of all, the crimes that the EZD community and others faced in August, it will be five years. And these communities are still, most of them are displaced and facing challenges to return home. And one of the main challenges is the security situation. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government and the Kurdish government to resolve some of these security issues so that people can feel safe to return home again. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government and the Kurdish government to resolve some of these problems. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government and the Kurdish government to resolve some of these problems. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government to resolve some of these problems. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government to resolve some of these problems. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government to resolve some of these problems. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government to resolve some of these problems. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government to resolve some of these problems. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government to resolve some of these problems. We have worked tirelessly with the Kurdish government to resolve some of these problems. We have worked tirelessly with the Iraqi government to resolve some of these problems. to go and join them and return to their homeland. So you sort of went to the second question that I was going to ask you. And you've mentioned, I think, in a prior publication that about 350,000 SDs remain displaced. And for those who do not know, that's the vast majority of the community. So that is an important thing to consider. So to get to voluntary, safe, and sustainable return where people can go home and stay there, you mentioned a number of barriers, securities, and the attention. Who do you think should address this? Where do you see some of this that is at the international community? Is it the government of Iraq? Is it the Kurdistan regional government? Who do you think should address those problems? I think it's about 350,000 SDs left in the country. I think it's important for the people to go home and stay there. At the beginning, I think it's important that we have the right to do what we have to do. We have the right to do what we have to do. But I think it's important Salawan and Sara, in no dissatisfaction with the Doree Shingal or Khalkamu Biminel Kampada, Tapeen Salam. When we started this work and advocated for the Yazidi community and other communities in Iraq, I knew that the legal side will take some time. It takes time to bring perpetrators to justice. Also on the reconstruction side, we knew that it will take some time. But I never thought that it will take more than five years for those Yazidis that are in IDP camps, whom are about two hours away from their home, will not be able to return home. The work that Nadiya's initiative does, our goal was to shift focus to Sinjar and these areas to the ancestral homeland of the Yazidis. So what we did is we worked with both governments, the Iraqi government, the Kurdish government, for example, for the past two years and some parts of the Yazidis, the homeland in Sinjar, have been liberated more than two years. But so far we have not been able to manage, for example, to establish a local government for Sinjar. And when we talk to many of the NGOs, they are facing challenges because there is no local government in Sinjar. And the issue of security and local government combined prevents real change in Sinjar and reconstruction of the Yazidi homeland. We talk about the security and the lack of services in Sinjar prevent people from returning home, but at the same time, in these camps, in these IDP camps, they are facing many challenges, including lack of access to proper education, health services, and then at the same time, about 95,000 Yazidis have already immigrated from Iraq since 2014. This community will slowly disappear from the region no matter what, and a whole generation will grow up without proper education, without proper services available to them. Thank you. There are a question that I'll get back to you later, but a couple of specific questions from the audience that came, one you already answered in your remarks, but two related questions. One is, says, what is the role of the United States, the Iraqi government and the KRG in returning the women who were taken by ISIS? What is the role of the Iraqi government and the KRG in returning the women who were taken by ISIS? We have worked with our partners, including the U.S., provided information, trying to send the beginning of this crisis to help rescue some of the women in captivity, but to be honest, there has not been any real initiative to rescue Yazidi women from captivity from any side. For example, recently, even after Mosul and Talfar in these areas were liberated, we know for sure that there are some Yazidi children, still with some of the families in Talfar and Mosul, we sent papers to the Iraqi government asking them officially to let us appoint some Yazidi volunteers to go and look for these children in coordination with the Iraqi government, not only in Iraq but on the Syrian side and at a whole camp. But so far, we have not gotten the permission from the government and these volunteers are not able, without permission, to go and look in the camp and these houses and look for these children. So this is one of the issues that have not been resolved. Thank you. Another question that I have from the audience says, what do you think is the best way to hold former ISIS fighters accountable for those who are from European countries? So we have been working with some of the European countries, specifically Germany, France and UK, about this specific issue of ISIS fighters that committed crimes against Yazidis and others and including some of the women that joined ISIS in Iraq, a specific case that we are currently working on with our lawyer Amal Clooney in Germany against ISIS's wife and her husband that killed the Yazidi child. But the hope of the Yazidi community is that they will see these ISIS fighters in court and they're ready to testify as some of them have already testified and they're ready to testify again against these ISIS fighters. Thank you. So if I take you to the broader question, I mean, even before ISIS, the SD community has been reporting grievances related to lack of services for the longest time. I remember one single issue that kept coming up again, that there is a need for a hospital in Sinjar. And there was other grievances about political representation, that some bigger parties and actors were hijacking their plight and their issues. So obviously recovery from ISIS is not enough because even before ISIS, there were challenges. So can you speak a little more about the aspiration of the SD community, not just as a recovery from ISIS, but in Iraq, in a country, to live with dignity? Can you speak about that a little bit? In 2014, prior to ISIS attacking our areas, of course, I lived in a small town, in a small town, in a small town, in a small town, in a small town, in a small town, in a small town, ISIS attacking our areas, of course, I lived in a small village. I did not know much about politics. I didn't know that the representation in the government and these issues, but I knew for sure that after I learned about some of these issues, in terms of the hospital, there was only one hospital, small one in Sinjar, that covered the whole region for Yazidis and others that were there. The services were not available, those who needed special treatments, they had to travel to other regions and it was only one hospital that was later actually destroyed by ISIS at the moment. Education, lack of education, adequate education for Yazidis was also an issue, especially in the villages, these remote villages before 2003 and after that, after the fall of the regime of Saddam. The representation in the parliament, I know that Yazidis have not been politically marginalized actually in terms of representation in their own areas, even in Sinjar prior to 2014, we saw that more and more it was going to take away from Yazidis and others were coming to represent Yazidis. Well, to connect that with the issue of the mayor at the moment, Yazidis are not able to appoint their own mayor in Sinjar at the moment since 2014 and since the liberation from ISIS, they have not been able to resolve the issue of just the local mayor. So if I may actually follow up on that local level of issues, one of them can tie it to security. Security today, obviously the Iraqi society militarized in response to the conflict with ISIS, so many communities either expanded any armed groups they had or formed their own. So if you look at the SD community, there are different groups in Sinjar and other places that people have joined those groups. For security to improve from the perspective of the people of Sinjar and the SD community, how can security be provided where the SD people will feel safe on their homeland? There are security challenges all over Iraq, not just in Sinjar, but Sinjar in particular. The challenges are bigger because it has been neglected to buy the Iraqi and the Kurdish government to find out a solution between the two sides. And as a result, Yazidis have no choice but to join these armed groups. For example, guarding those mass graves has been done by Yazidi people who stayed there after ISIS attacked and fought ISIS for many years. We've officially asked the Iraqi government to recruit Yazidis, not just Yazidis, but Muslim Christians, whoever has returned to Sinjar, whoever was there and fought ISIS for years to recruit them into the official Iraqi security forces so that they can leave these militias and they can take up the security of their own areas, but that has not happened yet. Thank you. I have a question from the audience. Can you tell us about how the decision was made to allow women survivors of ISIS sexual slavery to bring home their children born of sexual violence? And a follow-up question is that how are these children being treated? Yes. Just to give you a little bit of context at the question, there was a time where the SD community had a problem about how to deal with those children who were born as a result of the heinous crimes that ISIS perpetrated. The community had a problem about how to deal with it. So can you tell us about that internal discussion of the community and how are these children being treated today? Yeah, so this is something new to the SD community. A small religious minority with traditions of thousands of years. This was a challenge, of course, but the SDs, the spiritual leaders of the SD community welcomed all the SD women that were enslaved by ISIS or the children and welcomed them back. There has been a discussion about children born of rape, of course, but this is not just a SD issue. It's also from the Iraqi government side where these children, even if the father is ISIS, has to be registered as a Muslim by the father, not the mother. And it's very difficult for Yazidi families to have these children be registered as Muslims in their households. This is something we have been working with the religious leaders in the community to figure out this issue. But at the same time, this is not only a responsibility on the Yazidi community. This is a responsibility of the Iraqi government and the international community. These children that have been born of rape from ISIS, Yazidis are not able to take care of their own children in these camps. So how can you expect this community to be able to take care of the children that are born of rape? I have another question from the audience that says, are you in favor of establishing a separate criminal court to deal with the crimes of ISIS? I believe that the work that they are doing, especially in the United States, and I think it's a huge step in which they will have a special court to deal with them. And other than that, the state should also be able to create a law that is able to eliminate the crimes of the Kurdish and Iraqis that they are trying to do this. We should also be able to apply a law Yes, so after the UN team was established, the UNITA team collected the evidence of these mass graves and the crimes against the Yazidi community and other communities in Iraq. Our hope is, and we have been working on this with them, to try and figure out if we can establish a special court for these ISIS members to be tried. We know there are thousands held by the Iraqi and the Kurdish government, some of whom committed crimes against Yazidi women and the Yazidi community. So we would like to see that happen and have them tried for these specific crimes against the Yazidi. Thank you. I think we're approaching the end of our time and I have two other questions that I wanted to ask. I mean, you've previously expressed that your greatest fear is that if the international community fails to act, that your community, the SD community, will cease to exist as a community. And from, I mean, we've talked about different threads of action, but from your meetings, you go and meet with the leaders of different countries, different important institutions. Do you feel that the international community is doing enough to help prevent that outcome of the Yazidi community, the SD community to cease to exist? And what more can they do to prevent that outcome? Yeah, so yes, this has been my fear that since the first day that we fear that our community will disappear from that region or from our ancestral homeland. And there has been some positive outcomes and some progress that we have made with our partners. For example, we have worked on demining Yazidi areas with the support of the US government and the French government and also support of the US government, the British and others to establish the UNITAD team to collect evidence of these mass graves in Iraq. And these are very important and positive steps, but at the same time, it has been five years already and if this takes longer and longer, the Yazidi community will disappear from that region. And this is not only the responsibility of the international community, it's also the responsibility of the Iraqi and the Kurdish government to work with the international community to make sure that religious minorities, Yazidis and Christians are able to return to their homes. So you sort of answered another question that I was going to ask, but to expand a little bit on this, with the ministerial coming up in mid-July and Nox mentioned that. What would you like to bring to their attention? Not only from the perspective of the Yazidi community and the religious minorities in Iraq more broadly, but also in your role as UN goodwill ambassador. So we spoke at the ministerial last year and there were some good discussions, but this year I hope to see some results that we take some urgent steps to protect these religious minorities in Iraq because these minorities are disappearing from that region and if we do not act quickly and swiftly this is going to be an issue and these minorities will not be able to return to their homes. My hope is that we can work on steps including helping these minorities to return to their homeland to provide protection and services for them so that they're able to live with dignity and safety. These minorities have suffered genocides and they've suffered hardship, but they're the ones that are still facing hardship after the liberation of these areas. After ISIS was defeated they're still suffering and this is something that we need to do. Well thank you. We've come up to the end of our time and we ran a little bit over and I know that there are other questions from the audience. Unfortunately we have to wrap it up here, but I'm pleased to report that Nadia has kindly agreed that she will come back to USIP and we'll go deeper on some of these issues so be on the lookout for that. And I want to conclude with saying that you are here, you're watching online now, you're watching the video of this event in the future because you care about issues of recovery from genocide and the heinous crimes that ISIS perpetrated. And as you've heard from our previous speakers from Nadia and I can also report from the work of USIP in Iraq that our work is not done. A lot more lies ahead and we really need to keep at these issues. If we want to address the immediate issues and we want to turn the never again into a reality we need to keep at these issues, especially now as the attention is shifting away to tensions with Iran and other geopolitical challenges. You have a part to play in your current role or in your future role. So please let's continue to help the survivors and their communities through the various ways that we identified through this conversation and we'll identify in other conversations. So thank you Nadia. Thank you Abd. I really appreciate your time and you're helping with the translation as well. Please join me. Go ahead. Yes. Yes. I'm happy to be here again. Thank you so much for being with us today. I just hope that we can all work together to make sure that ISIS's goal does not get accomplished and we make sure that religious minorities can exist in that region and can survive in that region. I'm very appreciative of the support from the Taiwanese government. One word about Nadia's initiative is that this support will go through our partners. We do not do these projects ourselves. It will be these projects will be implemented with our partners such as Relief International on WASH and livelihood projects. We are working with the French NGO Chandelier-Spois that will build a hospital in Sinjar and we hope that these projects will be something that all communities in Sinjar can use, Muslims, Yazidis, Christians and this will be a way to start conversation and interaction between these communities and build social cohesion between these different communities in Sinjar. Thank you again Nadia. Thank you everybody for joining us. Thank you.