Freedom Award Quotes

“The horrors of wars have shadowed our path in life. The soil of our land is saturated and soaked with the blood of the victims of genocides.”
― Widad Akreyi

“I am afraid, my friends, that the ugly chapters of genocides and the deep-rooted history of persecution in the Middle East will last longer if we ignore the facts. If we keep silent, we will probably witness another genocide at a future date, and the price we may pay for neglecting our duty to act may prove to be too high.”
― Widad Akreyi

“The more division the Iraqi authorities cultivated, the more we worked for inclusion. The more aggression they showed us, the more time we devoted to peace and reconciliation. The more civilians they tortured and slaughtered, the more my instinct guided me to reach out to all segments of society. The more they tried to erase the evidence, the more risks we took to document the atrocities and the harms inflected on humans and the environment.
Because one day, we thought, one day the world will wake up and realize the repercussions of overlooking our suffering, and on that day, the souls of victims will finally find peace.”
― Widad Akreyi

“Our lives and the lives of future generations do not only depend on the conflicts that take place, but also on the solutions we offer in response to them.”
― Widad Akreyi

“It has been heart-warming, in the midst of all our sadness, to see a good mix of people from different backgrounds, different cultures, different religions or with no religion involved in demonstrations and urgent actions to support our calls for justice and peace. Those tireless supporters have tried to make a difference one act of kindness, one act of solidarity, one act of charity at a time. And they did so because they believe that all humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They believe in acting towards one another in a spirit of humanity because human rights are universal, and justice and peace are human rights.”
― Widad Akreyi

“Hope becomes an option only when we get involved. Empathy must influence the nature of our interactions. And we must remember that compassion is contagious. The more we spread it, the more the people around us are gonna feel it and cherish it. And the more we see it elsewhere, the more it becomes attainable where we are.”
― Widad Akreyi

“We have seen too many armed conflicts. We have witnessed far too many violations of human rights. The 2014 genocide wasn't the first genocide, and if history is any indication, it won't be the last if we don't do something now. We must ask ourselves what should we do to help prevent new genocides. It is time to embody justice in our intentions and actions.”
― Widad Akreyi

“We are not supposed to choose the easy solutions. We will no longer accept that our lives be blanketed with the doctrines of oppression and persecution. We say no to the growing sense of gloom floating in the air. Now is the time to hope for a beam of light on the horizon.

So, let's roll up our sleeves and rekindle our commitment to a peace built on justice and freedom.”
― Widad Akreyi