Vian Dakhil is a leading activist who was formerly the only Yazidi woman in Iraq’s parliament.
Dakhil gained international attention after she made an impassioned speech to her fellow parliamentarians, entreating them to intervene on behalf of the Yazidi people trapped in the Sinjar Mountains after the Islamic State’s capture of the region. Her stirring plea helped inspire President Obama to order airstrikes and launch a humanitarian effort to rescue thousands of Yazidi Iraqis trapped in the mountains.
Dakhil won the 2014 Anna Politkovskaya Award. She received the prize for her courage and determination in the fight for Yazidi rights. In 2014, she broke her leg in a helicopter accident that occurred as she attempted to deliver aid to an embattled Yazidi enclave.
As of 2022, Dakhil is official spokesperson for the headquarters of former Kurdish President Masoud Barzani.
