DAVID GREENE, HOST: An Iraqi woman is visiting Capitol Hill this week. Vian Dakhil is a member of Iraq's Parliament. She is also Yazidi, a religious minority slaughtered and enslaved by ISIS.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: She called attention to Yazidi suffering and is in the United States now to receive a human rights prize named for a Holocaust survivor. She spoke with us through an interpreter.</s>VIAN DAKHIL: (Through interpreter) But we still have about 3,600 girls and women and children under ISIS control. Eighty-five percent of the cities and villages of the Yazidi are completely destroyed. I need to give my speech to the U.S. and focus again about what happened in the Yazidi.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: But her trip here almost did not happen after President Trump signed his executive order banning travel from seven mostly Muslim nations including Iraq.</s>VIAN DAKHIL: (Through interpreter) When I heard about this decision, it means all the Iraqi people are equal with the terrorists. It's not fair. It's not true.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: She was given a waiver to travel by the State Department. Now a judge has temporarily blocked the entire ban, though Dakhil says it still sent a message to her people.</s>VIAN DAKHIL: (Through interpreter) Maybe I can travel to the USA because I have a opportunity, but what about all those victims? I'm sure they're thinking about why - why USA do that? We are a victim. We need opportunity. We need help from all the international community.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: Vian Dakhil receives the Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize on Capitol Hill tomorrow.
Steve Inskeep and Rachel Martin have the story of Vian Dakhil, who's a member of the Iraqi Parliament and is a Yazidi activist, who was invited to receive an award and speak at the U.S. Capitol.