Muzna Dureid

Muzna Dureid (@muznadureid) is a public policy analyst, refugee rights advocate and expert on Syria, her native country. She was appointed advocacy and partnerships manager at Nobel Women’s Initiative in May, 2023.

She had worked since 2018 first as liaison officer, then as a senior program development officer, for the White Helmets, also known as the Syria Civil Defence (@SyriaCivilDef), comprised of humanitarian volunteers from all walks of life, religion and politics. During the pandemic she coordinated a White Helmets project to produce COVID19 personal protective equipment locally in North West Syria. The organization won the alternative Nobel prize for peace in 2016.

Muzna arrived in Montreal as a refugee from Syria in 2016. On her journey to Canada, she was involved in multiple initiatives and networks focused on child and forced marriage issues among Syrian refugees since 2012 when the first wave of Syrian refugees fled to neighboring countries. She founded ‘Women Refugees, not Captives,’ a campaign aimed at ending forced and child marriages of Syrians.

Muzna advocates for the diaspora women refugees’ political participation. She is a co-founder of the Syrian Women’s Political Movement to engage Syrian women in politics and peace talks and shape Syria’s future. She is a consultant at the Women, Peace, and Security Network – Canada. She is the founder of the Indigenous – Refugees movement, a series of workshops for Youth in Canada on lessons learned by both groups and aimed at strengthening bonds by learning truth and resilience.

She is  a co-recipient of Canada’s first-ever research award on Women, Peace, and Security for her work: “Revisiting the Impact of Cybersecurity, COVID-19, and Conflict Nexus on Women Human Rights Defenders. Muzna holds a master’s degree in public policy and public Administration from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

She won the Canadian Excellence in Global Women and Children’s Health award for the young category of 2019. She received The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers annual award for outstanding advocacy on behalf of the human rights of refugees. Muzan is a member of Gender Innovation Agora  at UN WOMEN. She is a board member of the CARE Women’s Advisory Board for Advocacy and a member of the Refugee Advisory Network.

Muzna joined the Refugee Advisory Network to build on her first-hand experience and foster the voice of internally displaced and refugee Syrian girls and women in the global refugee policy agenda and discussions. Muzna believes the Refugee Advisory Network paves the way to refugee representation, inclusion, and social justice, specifically youth refugee women’s efforts in Canada and globally.