Each year around the world universities participate in Model United Nations (MUN) roleplays. They do this to gain insights and train skills. In preparation for this year’s MUN conference at the University of Zurich, RFK Human Rights Switzerland provided them with and interactive evening with one of our activists: Ms Adiba Qasim.

Model United Nations is a simulation of the United Nations. By multilateral approaches, the participants debate and tackle various global issues from the perspective of a delegate representing a Member of the UN. Participants can get an insight into world politics while at the same time training soft skills like public speaking, group communication, and researching.

For this first cooperation RFK Human Rights invited Adiba Qasim to speak. She talked to the students about her own life and how she is a survivor of the Yazidi Genocide in northern Sinjar District in Iraq, and focused on the topic of the Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers in Iraq.

In August 2014, when Adiba Qasim was 19 years old, her village in Northern Iraq was stormed by Islamic State militants who proceeded to brutally kill and enslave thousands of Yazidis. At Adiba's urging, her family managed to escape just minutes before the militants arrived. They made an arduous trek over the mountains to a Turkish refugee camp, and after years of uncertainty, her family eventually found refuge in Germany. Intent on documenting the genocide of her people, Adiba returned to Iraq to work with journalists and humanitarian organizations. With her life in danger a second time, Adiba eventually made her way to Switzerland where she lived without legal status until the Swiss government granted her asylum after more than two years in limbo.

Adiba is currently a student focusing on international law at the University of Geneva, a frequent speaker on refugee rights, and a fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

We thank Lorenz, Ridika and August from MUN for this fantastic opportunity and hope to come back next year!