About us

Farida Global Organization

Survivors Leading Change. Communities Restoring Hope. Justice Driving Action.

Farida Global Organization (Farida e.V.) is a survivor-founded, survivor-led non-profit committed to defending human rights, securing justice, and restoring dignity to those affected by genocide, mass atrocities, and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). Founded by Yazidi women and men who themselves survived ISIS captivity and displacement, we stand as living testimony that survival is only the beginning — and that healing, empowerment, and justice are possible when survivors lead the way.

We work where the wounds of war are still open — in displacement camps, in destroyed hometowns, and in courtrooms seeking accountability — providing practical support, legal advocacy, and mental health services that are culturally sensitive, trauma-informed, and rooted in community resilience.

Why we Exist?  

On 3 August 2014, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) launched a genocidal attack on the Yazidi homeland in Sinjar, Iraq — killing thousands, abducting over 6,500 women and children, and displacing an entire community. Declared a genocide by the United Nations, these crimes were part of a systematic attempt to erase a people, their culture, and their history.

Many survivors — especially women and children — endured sexual slavery, torture, forced conversions, and extreme violence. Even today, thousands remain missing, families remain separated, and the survivors carry the weight of profound trauma alongside urgent needs for justice, reparations, and safe return.

Farida Global was created by survivors, for survivors, to ensure that those most affected lead the solutions:

• To give survivors a voice in shaping policies and programs that affect them.
• To deliver life-saving and life-rebuilding services — from legal representation to specialized psychological care.
• To fight for justice so that atrocities like these are never repeated.

While our roots are in the Yazidi genocide, our mission extends to all communities facing persecution, mass atrocities, and CRSV worldwide.

Our Vision

A world in which survivors of genocide, mass atrocities, and sexual violence are safe, heard, healed, and empowered — and where justice, truth, and reparations are guaranteed for all.

Our Impact

From grassroots interventions in remote camps to high-level advocacy at the United Nations, Farida Global combines local credibility with international reach. Our work has:

• Provided hundreds of survivors with tailored legal aid to claim rights under the Yazidi Survivors Law (YSL).
• Delivered specialized mental health and psychosocial support to survivors of CRSV in line with IASC and WHO best practices01.
• Strengthened institutional capacity through training of government and civil society actors on survivor-centered, trauma-informed approaches01.
• Led international advocacy campaigns, from European parliaments to global human rights conferences, ensuring that survivor voices are heard at decision-making tables.

How We Work

Our approach is:

• Survivor-Led: Survivors are not just beneficiaries; they are decision-makers, advocates, and leaders in our programs.
• Trauma-Informed: Every service is designed to avoid re-traumatization and to promote dignity, choice, and empowerment.
• Culturally Grounded: Programs are tailored to the social, spiritual, and cultural realities of the communities we serve.
• Evidence-Based: We integrate international best practices, rigorous monitoring, and survivor feedback into every project.

Meet Our Team

Our leadership brings together survivors, human rights defenders, humanitarian experts, and global policy advocates. Each member carries a unique story of resilience and a shared commitment to justice — from Farida Khalaf’s global advocacy against ISIS crimes, to Khalid Qasim Salih’s frontline humanitarian leadership in Sinjar, to the legal and psychosocial expertise of our staff working daily in the field.

Join Us

The challenges are immense, but so is the potential for change. Every voice, every partnership, and every act of solidarity matters. We invite donors, universities, human rights networks, and global allies to collaborate with us in shaping a world where survivors lead the path from atrocity to justice, from displacement to home, from trauma to renewed life.

Partner with us. Invest in survivors. Stand for justice.

Our Team

Farida Khalaf (Co-Founder and President)

is a Human Rights Activist and co-author of “The Girl who beat ISIS”. Farida is one of more than 6500 Yazidi survivors of ISIS enslavement and genocide. She was born in the village of Kocho near Sinjar in northern Iraq. She was a high school student when ISIS attacked her village, killing men and taking women and children hostages. Farida lost her father and her older brother. She was taken into captivity with her mother and her other brothers. Her mother escaped 9 months later. Farida was held in captivity for four months, where she was subjected to unimaginable suffering including physical and mental abuse.

Since her escape, Farida has been an effective part of a global advocacy campaign to bring ISIS militants to justice, raise awareness and bring international attention to the Genocide. She has met with many world leaders including Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Wolfgang Schäuble, and a number of other European Presidents and EU parliament members. Farida has spoken in many high-level international events throughout Europe and around the world. Farida’s book, The Girls Who Beat ISIS, has been published and translated in more than 14 languages.

Farida is the winner of the Polish Foreign Minister’s Pro Dignitate Humana Prize 2017 and the 2017 Marsh Award for Peacemaking and Peacekeeping by Wilton Park, an executive agency of Foreign and Commonwealth Office-UK government and the LiberPress Award for 2017. Farida also received the 2020 Annual Human Rights Judith Lee Stronach Award. Farida also has a documentary film, With Words Against the IS – A Yazidi raises the voice. Farida has spoken with numerous international media including BBC, SWR, Reuters, DW, RT, CBC, and others.

Sanaa Ali Alneamat (Co-Founder, Board Member and Director For Women’s and Survivor’s Affairs)

Sanaa was a student at Mosul University in the field of Geography when she was abducted by ISIS in Kocho. Today, Sanaa is a distinguished human and women’s rights activist, contributing to international, national, and local conferences throughout Europe, with a focus on survivors’ perspectives. She is currently working as an interpreter and is the Director for Women’s and Survivor’s Affairs at FG with a strong skillset in participatory and survivor-centric programming.

Intisar Oso (Co-Founder and Board Member)

Intisar is a human and women’s rights activist known for her eminent work in advocating for safe and legal routes of entry to Europe. As a participant of Baden-Württemberg’s Special Quote Program and in the context of her personal and her family’s history, with one of her sisters rescued from ISIS just months ago, her work with FG particularly focuses on a new Special Quota Program to Germany for vulnerable survivors still living in Iraq and family reunification.

Miriam Weller (Communications Director)

has an academic background in political sciences and international relations, with a focus on the fields of migration and climate change. She has professional experience working with international organizations and the European Parliament, focusing on the intersection of climate change and human mobility. At Farida Global, she is the project coordinator for the exhibition “The Women Who Beat ISIS” and responsible for the fields of communication and media.

Astrid komp (Co-Founder, Board Member, Psychological and Staff Care Advisor) when the crisis hit in 2014 astrid had just graduated from nursing (BSC) and child psychology (MSC); she was at work in south east Asia as a volunteer. September 2016 Astrid started working for an international humanitarian organization in northern Iraq (Sinjar, Kirkuk, Mosul and Dohuk) to provide healthcare and psychosocial support to refugees and internally displaced people. Astrid specialized herself, while working in Iraq, with a master in international humanitarian psychosocial interventions to be able to provide better quality and evidence based support. Astrid worked for over three years with different organizations in northern Iraq as health/psychosocial manager, protection project manager and area manager. She managed to learn the basics of the local language and gained a great understanding of the culture and context of the country/history. Astrid is touched by the stories of many people within Iraq and is deeply moved to support them in any way needed. Astrid was asked to join the board of Farida Global Organization and will advise the organization with her technical knowledge on psychosocial support, staff care and project management.

Saeed Qasim Sulaiman (Co-Founder)

is a human rights activist and advocate for the protection of Yazidis, Christians and other minorities. Thanks to his involvement and hard work as a volunteer in the humanitarian sector from a very young age, Saeed was elected, at age 16, to the position of Youth Center Director in Kurdistan-Iraq. Saeed spent more than five years supporting refugees and IDPs, and in 2015, he established one of the first volunteer centers in Iraq. After moving to Germany in 2015, Saeed has dedicated his life to supporting Yazidi women and children who have survived ISIS captivity. This involves meeting with leaders and government officials from all over the world. Over the past few years, Saeed has volunteered his time to work with Mrs. Amal Clooney’s legal team. He supported the team during two cases against ISIS members for international crimes. These were the first of such cases anywhere in the world. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Duhok and an M.A. in Development and Governance from University of Duisburg-Essen.

Khalid Qasim Salih (Co- Founder and Country Director – Iraq)

was living in Sinjar happily and having many friends around him. Khalid, holding a BSc. Engineering and humanitarian Leadership from American University in Beirut, was working in the Sinjar region. He is a humanitarian aid worker and a human rights defender for the vulnerable and poor families. In 2014, he had to forcibly flee his home with his family and run into Kurdistan Regional of Iraq (KR-I) for safety and thus he survived from the Genocide happened against his community “Yazidis”. From the very first days of the displacement, Khalid started advocating and asking for help for his people, especially around 120,000 people that were trapped on the Sinjar Mount. He helped with air dropping to the people trapped on the Sinjar mountain in August, 2014. While the crisis was getting more chronic and taking longer than anyone expected, Khalid started to be involved in more community centered activities. He joined and co-founded the voluntary center within the University of Duhok “Volunteers of Duhok University (VDU)”. Khalid, with proper and long training from IAHV, was able to be certified as a trainer and was assigned as a peace ambassador. Khalid trained hundreds of displaced people in displacement camps in Iraq to help the traumatized people to overcome the trauma and to relieve stress. Khalid, since 2014 is working as a humanitarian aid worker with MEDAIR (a Swiss international organization) to deliver assistance to the most vulnerable families across all Iraq. 

Khawla Ali ( Counselor at Farida Global Organization in Iraq)

She is specializing in the Yazidi Survivor’s Law (YSL) since 2022. A passionate advocate for survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV), Khawla, a Yazidi survivor of enslavement by ISIS, has dedicated herself to defending human rights. In her role, she has successfully supported thousands of survivors, ensuring access to reparations and legal services. Khawla’s powerful mandate is to transition from the enslavement by a terrorist organization to championing human rights within a humanitarian organization. Her message is “From enslavement of a terrorist organization to defend human rights in a humanitarian organization”.

Brilliant Edudzi Dziko (Co-Founder and Strategic & Development Officer)

is an international development policy analyst who began his career as an advocacy volunteer with curious minds Ghana and then served as the national coordinator for the African youth and adolescents network on population and development (African Ghana) with unfpa affiliation. He holds a B.A. degree in political studies and economics from the Kwame Nkrumah University of science and technology and has worked as programmes assistant with the democratic governance and peacebuilding unit of UNDP in Ghana. Brilliant has also served in the unmgcy led organizing committee for the United Nations economic and social council youth forum at the UN headquarters in New York and other international high level events. Currently, brilliant doubles as a scholar in ma. development & governance in DAAD Helmut Schmidt Programme, Universität Duisburg-Essen and an assistant SDG`s policy research consultant with the German development institute in Bonn, Germany. Brilliant believes that the story of ISIS persecution of the Yazidi community in Iraq must be viewed from a global lens and is pleased to join the strategy unit and support team Farida Global Organization with his expertise.