Muzna Dureid

Muzna Dureid (born 1991) is a Syrian human rights activist and former refugee, based in Montreal, Canada.

Shortly after her uncle was assassinated at the start of the Syria Civil War, Dureid and her family fled the country. She relocated to Canada after seeking asylum while attending an Ottawa conference.

Dureid founded the Women Refugees, not Captives campaign and the Indigenous – Refugees movement.

She was a 2022 recipient of the first International Development Research Centre's Canada's women, peace, and security award.

Early life Dureid was born in 1991 in Damascus.

Adult life

In Syria She was studying the work of Molière at Damascus University when the Syrian Civil War started. Sister to Sister Mentorship event in Ottawa, Canada, Dureid applied for political asylum and relocated to Montreal and enrolled at Concordia University where she studied politics. Her application for refugee status was accepted in January 2017.

In Canada She has worked at the Centre Social D’aide Aux Immigrants and as the Canadian liaison officer for the Syrian civil defense organization the White Helmets. She helped found and sits on the board of the Paris-based Syrian Women’s Political Movement, In Canada, Dureid founded the Indigenous – Refugees movement organization to improve solidarity between refugees and Indigenous peoples in Canada. and in 2019 she won the CanWaCH Young Leader Award.

She is a member of Network for Refuge Voices and serves on the advisory committee of the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.

She featured in Khadija Baker's 2022 exhibit Birds Crossing Borders and her account is featured in Ozlem Ezer's 2018 book Syrian Women Refugees Personal Accounts of Transition.