Taban Shoresh Taban Shoresh

One Young World: The story of a Kurdish genocide survivor | Taban Shoresh

Taban Shoresh was imprisoned at the age of four with her family in 1986 and was nearly buried alive by Saddam Hussein's soldiers. She was forced to watch and hear her family be tortured before being sent off to be killed - but she was miraculously saved by fellow Kurds. Listen as the founder of The Lotus Flower shares her harrowing story.

This session took place at 2017 One Young World Summit, the world's premier forum for young leaders, in Bogotá, Colombia. The Summit brought together 1,300 delegates from more than 190 countries, empowering them to make lasting connections to create positive change.

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BBC WORLD SERVICE: Imprisoned By Saddam When I Was Four

Taban Shoresh was just four years old when she was arrested by Saddam Hussein's soldiers and faced almost certain death. She'd been targeted along with other family members because her father was a prominent Kurdish activist, leading opposition to the Iraqi dictator. Nowadays Taban lives and works in London, but she was born in 1982 in the Kurdish city of Erbil. It was a time when Saddam's soldiers were subjecting the Kurdish people to interrogation, mass deportations and executions. She tells Matthew Bannister her extraordinary story.

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BUSINESS INSIDER: This British-Iraqi woman quit her City job to help women enslaved by ISIS live normal lives again

"Taban Shoresh fled Iraq when she was too young to properly remember — a refugee from Saddam Hussein's campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Kurdish people.

She grew up in London, was educated there, and like many graduates, kept her focus on the capital, going to work for Investec Asset Management.

But when her country was plunged into fresh chaos in 2014, Shoresh, then aged 33, abandoned a straightforward, self-contained life in the UK and went back to the Middle East to help.

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Badass Women's Hour on Talk Radio: Ep. 214: Boxing Sisters with Taban Shoresh

Ep; 214 Living with Cancer and Making Curry with Samia Thompson and Boxing Sisters with Taban Shoresh

Need a weekly dose of career inspiration, smart talk and badass advice? Then join the Badass Women's Hour trio and their brilliant guests as they cover life, love and living plus everything in-between. Presented by Harriet Minter (Journalist and Broadcaster) with co-hosts Natalie Campbell (Social Entrepreneur) and Emma Sexton (Creative Entrepreneur)

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BBC NEWS: The future of the Yazidis in Iraq

"They are there. Recently, one member escaped, but the others - we don't know," another Yazidi woman says, another who does not want to give her name, lest there be reprisals against members of her family still inside IS-held territory.

She was speaking at a rehabilitation centre in Qadia refugee camp, run on behalf of a British charity, The Lotus Flower.

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RED MAGAZINE: The women making your world a better place

Why is Taban Shoresh a Red Woman of the Year?

She’s overcome her terrifying past to fight for the rights of Yazidi women. And today, her commitment and tenacity are helping refugee women gain independence and build the lives they deserve. 

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PARIS MATCH: Rwanga - a local foundation on the front line

"That day, I saw things that I could never have imagined ... Thousands of people, prisoners, on top of a mountain," says. Taban Shoresh

On this helicopter, on August 12, 2014, Rwanga's teams understand the extent of the tragedy of the Yezidi people. "It's like I came back in 1986 when the regime was using images of mass graves to send the people a clear, brutal message, says the young woman. When men felt helpless to protect their families. The difference is that I was not in the past, but in 2014 ".

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