Pari Ibrahim
Executive Director
Pari is the Founder and Executive Director of the Free Yezidi Foundation (FYF). Pari is a Yezidi woman originally from Iraq. She fled Iraq as a child with her family in 1991 during the Saddam Hussein regime, eventually resettling in the Netherlands. Pari created FYF to support Yezidi survivors in the aftermath of the Yezidi Genocide perpetrated by ISIS. FYF's fundamental values include women’s rights, justice for gender-based violence and sexual violence, and the rights of ethno-religious minorities. Pari seeks an Iraqi society where Yezidis are considered equal and enjoy equal access to opportunities and rights. She promotes women’s empowerment and equal rights for women and girls in Iraq. Pari is an advocate of heightened attention to and appreciation of gender issues in the Yezidi community and seeks respect and acknowledgment of women’s rights in the broadest sense. She founded FYF in August 2014 in the Netherlands. FYF has implemented programs funded by the United Nations, U.S. government, European governments, and various foundations and international organizations. On behalf of FYF, Pari has spoken to the United Nations Security Council, British Parliament, U.S. Holocaust Museum, BBC, Al-Jazeera, and countless universities, media outlets, and think-tanks. She studied law at the University of Amsterdam, and speaks Kurmanji, Dutch, English, and German.