Every day, HÁWAR.help dedicates itself to creating a world in which every human being can heal and grow in safety and with agency, regardless of their ethnic background, faith, gender or lifestyle. A world in which human rights are respected as the highest good and in which women and children have no need to be afraid of embracing new opportunities and dreaming big. A world in which educational initiatives and open societies support especially those people who have been scarred by life and still have the courage to hope and heal. There’s still a long way to go, but we’ll keep on moving, no matter what.
In 2014 the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS) in Iraq and parts of Syria carried out a systematic campaign of annihilation against ethno-religious minorities – including Christians, Shiite Muslims, Turkmen, and Shabaks – but the Yazidis were hit hardest. In the summer of 2014, tens of thousands of people were tortured, raped, and executed. Yazidi women and children were separated from their families and sold into sexual slavery or as child soldiers. HÁWAR.help’s Founder and Chairwoman, Düzen Tekkal, who has Yazidi roots herself, travelled to Iraq as a German journalist to document the genocide being committed against her religious community. When she returned, she was a changed person, having witnessed first hand how quickly genocide can become a reality in the 21st century. Only 70 years after the Holocaust and while the whole world watches. In the Kurdish, “HÁWAR” means “cry for help”. Düzen followed her people’s cry for help: HÁWAR.help was founded in 2015
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