The historiography of the Kurdish Nationalist Movement in Iraq largely revolves around the two families currently ruling the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the Barzanis of the KDP and the Talabanis of the PUK. This paper nuances that historiography by casting light on the important role played in the 1970s, 80s and 90s by the Kurdish diaspora and by human rights activists, who publicized the struggle to gain autonomy within the state of Iraq to an international audience. Organizations run by Kurdish immigrants from Iraq in the U.S. and Western Europe, particularly the U.K., engaged in extensive lobbying efforts to win the attention of politicians and publics. This was done in coordination with the burgeoning number of human rights organizations that emerged in the so-called Human Rights Revolution of the 1970s. During this time, the population of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq suffered immense repression and brutality and subsequently came under international protection, gaining the official autonomy it continues to enjoy today. This paper observes and elaborates two identifiable shifts among members of the diaspora during this pivotal period. First, there was an increasing identification among members of the diaspora with state/autonomy-seeking Kurdish nationalism (a shift from “diaspora-in-itself” to “diaspora-for-itself”). Second, the emphasis they placed in lobbying efforts on human rights and minority rights within Iraqi borders overshadowed the push for an independent, unified Kurdistan, although that remained (and remains today) the language used by many of these organizations. This paper builds on existing literature on the Human Rights Revolution and the “boomerang effect” described first by Keck and Sikkink (1998). It is part of a larger project analyzing how the Kurdish Nationalist Movement in Iraq (including the diaspora organizations) balanced a push for collective rights and self-determination with a prioritization of the “individual” or “minority” rights of Kurds, which should be protected against Iraqi state abuse by the international community. The paper is based on oral history interviews with members of the Kurdish Iraqi diaspora in the U.S. and U.K. who were politically active during this time period; published material by various Kurdish lobby organizations; U.S. congressional archives, and archival research at the Zheen Archive Centre in Suleimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan and the Ba’ath Archives at the Hoover Institution.