Laureation address: Diana Nammi
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws
Laureation by Professor Rebecca Sweetman, School of Classics
Wednesday 4 December 2019
Vice-Chancellor, it is my privilege to present for the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, Diana Nammi.
Rebel, freedom fighter, activist, advocate, role model, influencer: this is Diana Nammi.
Diana often tells a story of a young 14-year-old girl who was ejected from school in the town of Senneh, in Kurdistan, for throwing food at a teacher who accused her of being promiscuous. This town, before the Iranian revolution, was a multicultural one, with Kurdish, Jewish, Armenian and Assyrian populations, and was briefly run by the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran. This was a town where once Iranian women had voices and choices, which inevitably incurred the wrath of the Islamic militia. Diana had grown up in this town in a home environment where injustice was not acceptable and she could not stand by while Iranian Kurds, in particular women, began to lose their freedom and the right to be heard. To this end, she joined the Peshmerga and was a freedom fighter for 12 years until she became aware that her life and the life of her young daughter were in danger. At this point she applied for and obtained asylum in the UK, moving to a, then, deprived area of London.
When Sobhia Nader, the Iraqi Kurd translator who was helping to settle Diana's daughter into school, was killed by her husband and in-laws, in a so-called honour killing, Diana could not tolerate the fact that the violence was not prosecuted under the excuse of ‘cultural differences’. In 2002, Diana established the Iranian and Kurdish Woman’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) and shortly afterwards, in 2003, she launched the international campaign against honour killings.
The IKWRO is a vital charity with a permanent staff of 17 and ten more volunteers, altogether speaking ten different languages. They provide advice (up to some 2,000 women per year), as well as advocacy and referrals (around 500 women per year), focusing on forced marriage, child marriage, sexual violence, FGM and practical issues like housing and benefits. But, like
Diana, their work is about the follow-through, about establishing partnerships, working with local authorities and schools and training professionals. Since its establishment, the IKWRO has changed lives directly and indirectly through their high-octane awareness raising, through active public engagement and championing which includes the establishment of the True Honours Awards.
The IKWRO and Diana quickly gained acclaim for their work, being named the Best New Voluntary Sector Organisation and earning the Rising Star award in 2006. These honours were just the first of many, and more recently, in 2014, Diana received the Special Women on the Move Award by UNHCR (The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and in 2015 was awarded Woman of the Year by Red magazine. Her book, Girl with a Gun, written with Karen Attwood will be published in March 2020.
Diana is a positive role model who has empowered women across the world. For example, she has inspired the filmmaker Deeyah Khan, director and producer of Banaz: A Love Story. This is a rare film portraying an honour killing and one of the few times when the men who raped and murdered were extradited to the UK and received life sentences.
Throughout her life, Diana has given voice to others, she is an advocate for the unheard and if you ever need anyone on your side, it is the 14-year-old food-throwing girl from Senneh, Diana Nammi.
Vice-Chancellor, for her pioneering charity work and unyielding activism for those who suffer injustice, I invite you to confer the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, on Diana Nammi.
Diana Nammi's response
Dear Principal, Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, and everyone at St Andrews University, thank you from the bottom of my heart. It is a huge honour to be among such brilliant people and to celebrate your hard work and achievements. Congratulations to you all.
On a personal note, graduating today marks the realisation of a life-long dream. Just as I was to go to university, my world was turned upside down when the Islamic regime took over the revolution of Iranian people and attacked my homeland, family and friends. University had to wait as I joined Kurdish Peshmerga as a freedom fighter on the frontline to fight for freedom and equality. Although I never made it to university, I have had a very active life full of experiences, both heartbreaking and wonderful. And I have realised that I have never stopped learning.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who nominated me, the judging panel, all of my dear family and friends, my colleagues at IKWRO, and everyone who helped me on my journey here. And I want to wish everyone in this room the very best for your lifelong learning ahead.
Thank you.