SEED is working to raise awareness of sexual exploitation, harassment, and abuse to better protect girls and women by reducing their vulnerabilities, increasing their knowledge of how to protect themselves, or access to protective services when they are not, and to strengthen family support and build healthier relationships. Sexual exploitation, harassment, and [...]
As a Yezidi community activist, Faisal* was constantly exposed to stories including the genocide, rape, killing, and torture of his people comitted by ISIS leaving Faisal experiencing symptoms of emotional trauma. However, with psychological support facilitated by SEED for him and his family, he has improved his mental health significantly and enabled him to return [...]
Women and girls, in particular, in Kurdistan and Iraq often face forms of abuse in the home, including but not limited to physical and emotional harm. Lacking sufficient local psychosocial systems, survivors have few options. In one recent example, SEED’s partner organization in Sulaimani, Wchan, provided mental health services in order to help Helin* improve [...]
Source: Rudaw English / Author: Holly Johnston/ Date: November 18, 2019 ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Civilians who have fled the Turkish incursion in northern Syria to seek refuge in the Kurdistan Region are in grave need of medical care, according to Sherri Kraham Talabany, President and Executive Director of the SEED Foundation. Full Article [...]
Check out SEED President Sherri Kraham Talabany describing SEED’s response in the Kurdistan Region to the influx of over 15,000 refugees from Rojava. She also touched on SEED's next campaign: Preventing Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment. Our Senior Program Officer, Shano Ibrahim, also highlighted the launch of SEED's Winter Donation Drive. Interview: Audio only
SEED Foundation warmly congratulates Dr. Mirza Dinnayi, a Yezidi humanitarian and native of Sinjar, for receiving the 2019 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity at a ceremony in Yerevan, Armenia. Dr. Dinnayi has been recognized for his life-saving work in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region spanning over a decade, including his humanitarian response and advocacy on [...]
SEED Foundation has started its Winter Donation Drive for 2019 to benefit internally-displaced persons (IDPs), refugees — including the most recent to arrive in the Kurdistan Region from northeastern Syria — as well as those in need as temperatures plummet toward freezing through the winter months. We are grateful for the support of three local [...]
Source: Al-Monitor/ Author: Amberin Zaman / Date: November 4, 2019 An oft-cited reason for why the Kurds do not have their own state is the unremitting disunity among themselves. But Turkey’s Oct. 9 assault against a US-backed Kurdish militia in northeastern Syria has prompted an unprecedented display of pan-Kurdish solidarity. The Iraqi Kurds are at the [...]
SEED’s Center for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support MHPSS at Koya University, was commissioned to deliver a six-month training program on Psychosocial Support for 12 staff members by the Serving and Learning Together (SALT) Foundation an NGO that supports the Iraqi Christian Churches and the Christian Communities. Their main services are income-generating projects, support of [...]
Source: Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) /Authors: Jamille Bigio and Rachel Vogelste/ Date: October 2019 / This report was written as part of the CFR's Women and Foreign Policy Program. Human trafficking is a gross violation of human rights that affects populations across regional, ethnic, and religious lines. It encompasses a range of illicit [...]