Ms. Düzen Tekkal, born in 1978 in Hanover (Germany), German with Kurdish roots and part of the Yazidi faith community, is a journalist, bestselling author, film maker, war reporter with a focus on Syria and Iraq, human rights activist, chairwoman of the NGO HÁWAR.help e.V. and founder/ CEO of the educational initiative German Dream. In 2020 she co-founded the advocacy company MutRepublik GmbH.In 2007, she graduated with a Master’s degree. Her thesis focused on the Kurdish Yazidis in Germany and investigated the socio-political conditions for their integration into German society.Numerous publications, interviews on radio and TV on this very issue, participations at conferences, talk shows and political events made her a prominent figure. She is a nationally and internationally renowned expert on Yazidis, Iraq and antisemitism.Tekkal has been awarded with several honors including the Cross of Merit of the German Federal Republic, the Bavarian Television Prize in 2010, the BNK media prize in 2013, the Human Rights & Courage Award by the Federation of Journalists in 2016 and the AJC RAMER Award 2017 for Courage in the Defense of Democracy.Since April 2014, she has been working as a freelance journalist and war reporter.Her documentary film "HÁWAR – My Journey to Genocide" premiered in November 2015 at the 49th Hof International Film Days in Germany and has been gaining increased international recognition ever since. Her second documentary film "JIYAN – The forgotten victims of ISIS" premiered in January 2020 in Berlin.Tekkal published two books so far: „Germany under threat. Why we need to defend our values now“ in March 2016 and "#GermanDream. How we can create a better Germany", in March 2020. Both books were published by Berlin Verlag and became bestsellers in Germany.