Sophie offers support to Yazidi genocide survivor as she pays tribute to bravery

The Duchess of Edinburgh has warned that the devastation of conflict-related sexual violence continues long after the guns fall silent, as she offered a comforting hug to a Yazidi genocide survivor.

The pair met when the duchess visited The Women Who Beat Isis travelling photography exhibition at the Foreign Office in London on Wednesday.

Sophie, who offered comfort to the Princess of Wales earlier this month by placing her hand on Kate’s back at the end of the Remembrance Sunday service, delivered an impassioned speech in which she paid tribute to the bravery of Yazidi genocide survivors including Ms Abdi.

IS, also known as Daesh, brutally targeted the Yazidis, an ancient religious minority from northern Iraq, in 2014, murdering thousands of people, and abducting 7,000 women and children, in the Sinjar region.

The terrorist group perpetrated a catalogue of horrific violations, subjecting women and girls to sexual and other forms of slavery, and forcing boys to fight as child soldiers.

“I don’t think it was until voices of the Yazidi community came forward that so many people in the world were suddenly made aware of this terrible atrocity,” Sophie said.

“But actually the Yazidi voice became very powerful, and I pay tribute to all of those in the community for being brave enough to step forward, because it really was a moment when the world took an intake of breath and realised just how devastating this had been, the atrocities that Daesh had carried out on the Yazidis and other minority communities.”

The duchess added: “But the atrocities will continue, as we know, and the devastation, that conflict-related sexual violence has, continues.

The duchess listened to Ms Abdi share her personal experience during a panel discussion, learning how her entire family was captured and enslaved, how she was separated from them for months.

She and three of her siblings managed to escape to Kurdistan, before they were all reunited in Germany.

Sophie said: “(Awaz) and her family have lived with the ongoing aftermath and will do their entire lives.

“Communities of devastated families are torn apart.

“This is singularly the most effective weapon that the world has, and we don’t do enough to deal with it because we don’t do enough to prevent the violence from happening.”

Sophie is a champion of the UN’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS) and a supporter of the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI).

The exhibition, which has been shown in cities around the world including Berlin and the Hague, tells the testimonies of survivors of the Yazidi genocide and documents the ongoing consequences.

The duchess praised the display as “incredibly important”, and thanked male colleagues who were involved in supporting it.

“We can actually change this. It’s not up to the women. It’s not up to the men. It’s up to all of us,” she said.

This event falls within the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, an international annual campaign to challenge violence against women and girls.