Taban Shoresh

Taban Shoresh (born 1983) is a British aid worker, women's rights activist and founder of non-profit organisation: The Lotus Flower. She is also a Kurdish (Anfal) genocide survivor. When Shoresh was four years old, the Iraqi Intelligence Service arrived at her home and arrested her mother along with her paternal grandparents. Shoresh was imprisoned for two weeks along with her family and many other Iraqi Kurds. In 1986 Shoresh's family narrowly escaped a mass live burial after the drivers of the vehicle transporting her and her family were changed; at the time some Kurdish people working for Sadam Hussein were in fact working for Kurds.

Humanitarian work In April 2014 Shoresh was approached by the Kurdistan Regional Government and asked to speak about her experiences in the House of Lords for Genocide Remembrance Day. Around this time she learned about the plight of the Yazidis, a religious minority indigenous to Northern Mesopotamia. The Yazidis were facing persecution from the terrorist group, so-called Islamic State.

Shoresh then took a career break to participate in a rescue mission with the Rwanga Foundation, distributing aid to the displaced Yezidis trapped on Mount Sinjar. and has set up three centres in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The centres help vulnerable females access education and helps them with their wellbeing and mental health, which in turn helps refugee women reintegrate back into their communities.

She frequently speaks about the plight of Kurdish people in the middle east in public and on major news networks.

Shoresh was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to refugees and displaced conflict survivors in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.