Harvard Club of Chicago

ISIS & the Enslavement of Women & Girls

Harvard Alumni for Global Women's Empowerment SIG

Click here to register

Please join us for an expert panel discussion on the current trafficking and sexual enslavement of thousands of Yazidi women and girls by ISIS as recently covered by The New York Times in its August 2015 piece, ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape and its March 2016 piece, To Maintain its Supply of Sex Slaves, ISIS Pushes Birth Control.

A panel of experts will join us both in Chicago and remotely on-screen to discuss the situation facing the Yazidis and ongoing efforts to help. After the discussion, the panelists will take questions from our audience.

Panelists

Sareta Ashraph, Chief Analyst, UN Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Geneva, Switzerland; Harvard Law School LL.M 2001

Adlay Kejjan, member of Yazidi Community and Yazda* representative

Sajida Shroff, GlobalWE Vice President and Board Member; CEO Altamont Group (Education Advisory & Investment); Emory MBA 2004; Harvard EdM 1995

Matthew Barber**: University of Chicago PhD student and Iraq Executive Director of Yazda* as featured in the New York Times ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape article and the follow-up Q&A piece

The panel will be moderated by Farzeen Tariq, Harvard GlobalWE Advisory Council member, Northwestern University Law School student, and women's rights advocate.

*Yazda is a U.S.-based non-profit established to support the Yazidi minority group in the U.S. and the Yazidi homeland in northern Iraq and northeastern Syria. Yazda’s mission is to support the Yazidi community in the aftermath of the August 2014 attacks by ISIS, which resulted in the deaths of 3,000-5,000 civilians; the abduction of 5,000-7,000, mostly woman and children; and, the displacement of 400,000 people from Yazidi homelands in Sinjar, the Nineveh plain, and Syria.

**We hope that Matthew Barber will be able to join us. Due to ever-changing conditions in Iraq and power outages, his attendance is tentative.
 
 
Event Details

Date: Monday, May 16, 2016

Time: 11:30-1:30pm CDT (4:30pm-6:30pm UTC)

Event: Buffet luncheon (11:30am-12pm) and live panel discussion (12p-1:30p)

Location: Sidley Austin, 1 S. Dearborn, 37th Floor, Chicago

Remote: A select number of remote participants will be able to view the event online. See registration below. To convert your time zone, click here.

Deadline: All registrations must be received by 5pm CDT on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Names need to be provided to security, so we cannot accept late registrations.
 
 
Event Registration

This Harvard GlobalWE event is open to members of the Harvard community, including students, alumni, staff, affiliates and their guests.

To join the luncheon event in Chicago, please Register Now. The event is $20 and includes a full buffet lunch. Registration closes at 5pm CDT on Tuesday, May 10, 2016.

​To join the event remotely online, please fill out a Remote Interest Form here. We have a limited number of remote spots available. Remote participants will be able to view the event live. A strong wifi connection is necessary. Priority will be given to Harvard GlobalWE members and Harvard-affiliated groups using one connection, such as a Harvard Club. Registrations close at 5pm CDT on Tuesday, May 10, 2016.
 
 
Prior to the Event

We will follow up with all registrants via email with further details.

For in-person attendees, you will need a photo ID. Security at the Sidley Austin building (1 S. Dearborn) is very strict.  All guests must register for this event in advance.  You will be required to show your ID to gain access to the event.

For remote attendees, we will send a private link to our event, accessible with a strong wifi connection.

To learn more about the plight of the Yazidi women and girls, we recommend reviewing the following media coverage prior to the discussion. Please note: the articles and video contain graphic content.

ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape (New York Times, August 2015)

To Maintain its Supply of Sex Slaves, ISIS Pushes Birth Control (New York Times, March 2016) plus March 2016 article follow-up Q&A with New York Times' journalists and Matthew Barber

Escaping ISIS (Frontline, July 2015)

The Revival of Slavery Before the Hour is a piece written and published by ISIS in an Islamic State publication (Dabiq, October 2014) to justify their enslavement of Yazidi women and girls. Note: this piece is provided to show how ISIS has used propaganda and misused/co-opted faith to commit horrific acts of rape and enslavement.
 
 
Harvard Alumni For Global Women's Empowerment

Harvard GlobalWE is a shared interest group of the Harvard Alumni Association. We are dedicated to the empowerment of women through education, dialogue and connection among individuals working for women's rights and freedoms worldwide.  Harvard GlobalWE does not advocate a specific ideology or political or cultural agenda.

Membership is free. To become a member of Harvard GlobalWE, please JoinWE. To learn more, please visit our website and our Facebook group: