We bring to you a must-read book by a survivor of human trafficking at the hands of ISIS who has inspired the world with her courage in the face of genocide and slavery and continues to speak out to fight the Islamic State.

The fight against the Islamic State, or ISIS, wears on, but they are losing. They will continue to lose until they are defeated because of brave women like Nadia Murad who have come onto the world stage. Women like her have revealed what it is really like to be held captive by the Islamic State. They share the lengths ISIS will go to in order to cause harm to others, and what we must do to stop them. In her first book: The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity and My Fight Against the Islamic State, Nadia Murad details how she came to be in ISIS captivity and how she escaped. Not only that, she wows us with her insight into the world around her and her bravery to stand up and put herself at great risk by speaking out publicly. The Last Girl can be bought wherever books are sold. If you are passionate about female empowerment, the sex trafficking industry, the Islamic State, or the Middle East, I suggest you pick it up as soon as possible.

Nadia Murad was born and raised in a small village in Northern Iraq, part of the Yazidi community.  Murad dreamed of becoming a teacher or owning a beauty salon, but when she was only twenty-one years old her life was forever changed.  Islamic State militants massacred her village. They killed many of her brothers and her mother, and Murad herself was taken to Mosul and forced into the sex slave trade. She was repeatedly beaten and raped while in captivity. Murad passed through countless hands before finally escaping. Now, she is a world-known speaker who has talked about her story to people around the world, including at the United Nations, and even been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

In The Last Girl: My Story of My Captivity and My Fight Against the Islamic State, Murad bravely details her life before ISIS, her captivity, and her road forward after escaping their clutches, including the story of the brave man who risked everything to shelter her during her escape.  In a world where ISIS is losing but still hurting innocent victims on their way out, Murad’s book is an important conversation starter. ISIS is not only fighting for territory. They are fighting for cultural control. ISIS is not afraid to murder, rape, and pillage their way forward. That is why they must be stopped at all costs.

An unexpected bonus of this book is the forward by Amal Clooney. She describes Murad as “not just my client, she is my friend.” Clooney, renown for her work as a human rights lawyer, tells the story of how she met Nadia Murad. She shares why she decided to take on her case. Clooney talks of Murad’s bravery in the face of genocide, because that is what ISIS is committing. They are committing genocide against the Yazidi people. It is thanks to the hard work of advocates like Clooney and Murad that the United Nations is finally taking notice. Recently, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that created an investigation team to collect evidence of the crimes committed by ISIS. This is a major step forward not only for the United Nations but for the world and will not go unnoticed.

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Aryssa D
FFL Cabinet Member

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