Idris Nechirvan Barzani, founder of Rwanga Foundation.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Young Kurds have helped to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis caused by the advance of Islamic State militants at the One Young World summit in the Irish capital Dublin.
The 27 Kurdish delegates included Idris Nechirvan Barzani of the Rwanga Foundation, a Kurdish aid group that sponsored the delegates.
They were among 2,000 delegates at the annual summit organised by a UK-based non-profit that gives a platform to people aged between 18 and 30 to “drive change in the world.”
The four-day conference saw a mixture of talks, round table discussions and panel debates. Well-known participants included Kofi Annan, former United Nations secretary-general, actress Meghan Markle, football player Sol Campbell and tennis player Boris Becker.
The Kurdistan Region has seen a flood of internally displaced people from the rest of Iraq and refugees from Syria since ISIS swept across the region in the summer.
Parikhan Sulaiman Ibrahim, a Yazidi, talked about the atrocities suffered by her co-religionists at the hands of ISIS in their ancestral home of Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq. ISIS has kidnapped women and children and used female Yazidis as sex slaves.
Other young Kurds who took part included Gorgees Awia Maleel, Taffen Ako Taha, Avan Soufy, and Kardo Ali Abbas.
For many of them, this was their first trip abroad. The Kurdish flag was carried by Avan Soufy at one ceremony during the summit while the #HelpKurdistansDisplaced hashtag campaign on Twitter went international.
Many other delegates present confessed to knowing little to nothing about Kurdistan before the summit.
The 27 Kurdish delegates included Idris Nechirvan Barzani of the Rwanga Foundation, a Kurdish aid group that sponsored the delegates.
They were among 2,000 delegates at the annual summit organised by a UK-based non-profit that gives a platform to people aged between 18 and 30 to “drive change in the world.”
The four-day conference saw a mixture of talks, round table discussions and panel debates. Well-known participants included Kofi Annan, former United Nations secretary-general, actress Meghan Markle, football player Sol Campbell and tennis player Boris Becker.
The Kurdistan Region has seen a flood of internally displaced people from the rest of Iraq and refugees from Syria since ISIS swept across the region in the summer.
Parikhan Sulaiman Ibrahim, a Yazidi, talked about the atrocities suffered by her co-religionists at the hands of ISIS in their ancestral home of Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq. ISIS has kidnapped women and children and used female Yazidis as sex slaves.
Other young Kurds who took part included Gorgees Awia Maleel, Taffen Ako Taha, Avan Soufy, and Kardo Ali Abbas.
For many of them, this was their first trip abroad. The Kurdish flag was carried by Avan Soufy at one ceremony during the summit while the #HelpKurdistansDisplaced hashtag campaign on Twitter went international.
Many other delegates present confessed to knowing little to nothing about Kurdistan before the summit.
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