By Alyssa Lazar, Staff Writer
At the 2015 Golden Globes, Tina Fey joked, “George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin this year. Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an adviser to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected to a three-person U.N. commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip. So tonight, her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award.”[1]
Amal Clooney’s international resume juxtaposed with George Clooney’s award is feminist genius.[2] It portrays George as a trophy husband, while applauding his wife for her work in the international human rights world, unparalleled intellect, and pursuit for justice. Among Amal’s vast resume is her most recent assignment: the representation of Nadia Murad, a human rights activist who escaped ISIS enslavement.
Murad was a student at a school in Kocho, a village near northern Iraq.[3] She had been seeing “horrific images” on her television screen of ISIS fighters committing crimes.[4] On August 15, 2014, she noticed that those same fighters were rounding up the people in her village and directing them to a school on the outskirts of town.[5] Upon arrival at the school, Nadia witnessed the fighters murder 312 men in one hour.[6] The ISIS fighters subsequently separated the men and women and executed the women that were “too old and undesirable to be sold into slavery.”[7]
Murad remained alive among a group of women who the ISIS fighters considered young and attractive.[8] She and the other women were taken to the Iraqi city of Mosul, where they were distributed among ISIS fighters and enslaved.[9] “They gave us to them,” Murad said.[10]
In November 2014, Murad escaped.[11] One of her captors left his house unlocked, and she sneaked out to a refugee camp.[12] At the camp, she was selected for a program that took refugees to Germany, where she currently resides.[13]
Since her escape, Murad has been a tireless voice for women impacted by ISIS’s dominance, working continuously to advocate for an end to the genocide that began during its attacks in August 2014.[14] More than 3,500 Yezidi women and girls remain captive and subject to horrific sexual treatment.[15] She recently visited the U.S. with Amal Clooney to raise awareness about the Yezidi girls still being held captive.[16]
Clooney and Murad just wrapped up a visit to the United Nations, where they continued their plea for the Iraqi government to become pro-active in their quest for bringing ISIS to justice.[17] She specifically requested the prime minister of Iraq to send a letter to the U.N. Security Council, requesting an investigation into ISIS’s crimes.[18]
Clooney and Murad’s ultimate goal is to get the International Criminal Court to prosecute ISIS fighters for the crimes they committed.[19] The U.N. and U.S. State Department agree that ISIS’s human annihilation is genocide.[20] The ICC developed in 2002 to prosecute crimes against humanity; because Syria and Iraq are not U.N. members, however, the Court cannot investigate crimes by ISIS unless Iraq invites the court in or the U.N. Security Council sanctions an investigation.[21]
China and Russia, permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, have been vehemently opposing the ICC to open investigations into the crimes in Syria and Iraq.[22] Clooney’s next challenge is to meet with the Russians, who have said they are “open” to discussion regarding the investigation into the crimes.[23] Clooney’s task is a dangerous one, but danger does not scare her: She previously took on the government of the Maldives, for example, where she won the jailed ex-president’s freedom.[24] Her co-counsel was stabbed in the head.[25]
Clooney received an English law degree from St. Hugh’s College, Oxford, and a Master of Laws from NYU.[26] After graduating, she clerked for Sonia Sotomayor when she was a former federal appeals court judge.[27] She is fluent in Arabic and French.[28] Clooney is a barrister at London firm, Doughty Street Chambers, where she specializes in international and human rights law.[29] She has represented former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and the country of Armenia in its recognition of the Armenian Genocide.[30]
Sources
[1] https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/tina-fey-and-amy-poehler-made-the-perfect-feminist-george-cl?utm_term=.bbaO0qRa#.kv2Kb1gX
[2] Id.
[3] http://time.com/4152127/isis-yezidi-woman-slavery-united-nations/
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/06/09/amal-clooney-to-represent-isis-survivor-nadia-murad-and-victims-of-yazidi-genocide/
[15] Id.
[16] Supra note 3.
[17] Supra note 14.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] Id.
[22] Id.
[23] Id.
[24] http://people.com/human-interest/amal-clooney-plea-for-justice-isis-survivor/
[25] Id.
[26] http://www.businessinsider.com/the-incredible-life-of-amal-clooney-2017-2/#she-also-happens-to-be-the-wife-of-55-year-old-hollywood-actor-george-clooney-last-week-the-couple-announced-they-are-expecting-twins-2
[27] Id.
[28] Id.
[29] Id.
[30] Id.
