Antislavery Usable Past

Fawziya

2014 (Narrative date)

ISIS has singled out the Yazidi minority, notably its women and children, for particularly brutal treatment. In August 2014, ISIS fighters abducted hundreds, possibly thousands, of Yezidi men, women and children who were fleeing the IS takeover from the Sinjar region, in the north-west of the country. Hundreds of the men were killed and others were forced to convert to Islam under threat of death. Younger women and girls, some as young as 12, were separated from their parents and older relatives and sold, given as gifts or forced to marry ISIS fighters and supporters.

Fawziya was abducted in August 2014 and was held in her captor's home with his family. She was 18 years old during her enslavement and when she told her story in late 2014.

In the first 10 days we were not molested, the men brought us food and left us alone. Then we were told each of us must choose a husband or else men will choose us. At that time we were kept together, many of us, more than 100. Then we were split in groups, six girls per group, and each group was taken to a different house in Rambussi (near Mount Sinjar). In the house where I was held each girl was with a man from Da’esh; these men were aged between 30-40 years; we were aged between 15 and 20. The man who took me as his wife was about 30 and was from Mosul. He used me as his wife for four days in that house and then took me to Mosul to his family home. His family did not agree with what Da’esh did to the Yazidi girls but did not do anything to stop it. I was put in a room with his wife, she was also from Mosul, was young and very nice to me. She has two young children, a boy and a girl, with him. His parents did not interfere, but they said that if I did not convert to Islam he should give me away or sell me, and get a Muslim wife instead. He took me and his wife and children to Rambussi and said he was going to give me back to the emir (chief). There were other girls in houses nearby and I eventually managed to escape with some other girls.

Narrative provided by Amnesty International in the report 'Escape from Hell: Torture and Sexual Slavery in Islamic State Captivity in Iraq'

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2014 (Enslavement period)

VOICES: Narratives by Survivors of Modern Slavery

This is the world's largest archive of modern slavery survivor narratives. Across more than a million words spoken or written by survivors of modern slavery, we can see why slavery persists in particular hotspots, analyse patterns in trafficking routes, identify vulnerabilities, understand more about the challenges survivors face in liberation, and discover new antislavery solutions. These narratives offer the chance to systematically design new antislavery strategies based on the experiences, ideas and solutions of enslaved people themselves.

The database is searchable by country, name, theme, and narrative date. Narratives can be viewed in list or map form. A short introduction provides context to each narrative. Narrative provenance appears after the main narrative text.

For ideas on how to use this database, please see our accompanying guide.

Project Lead: Zoe Trodd. Team Members: Andrea Nicholson, Lauren Eglen, Rosemary Pearce, Olivia Wright.

Project Funders: AHRC Antislavery Usable Past grant (2014-19), ESRC/AHRC PaCCS Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement grant (2016-19), and AHRC-GCRF Antislavery Knowledge Network grant (2017-2021).

For any queries about the collection please contact: [email protected]. If you wish to cite a particular narrative, please acknowledge the survivor’s name, the provenance of the narrative and cite: Voices Database, the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham.

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