FEATURED MIGRANT CHANGEMAKER: ANILA NOOR, FOUNDER OF NEW WOMEN CONNECTORS
Anila Noor is a refugee-activist and independent researcher from Pakistan based in the Netherlands. She holds two Masters Degrees; an M.A. in Conflict and Peace Studies from Erasmus University in the Netherlands and an MSc from Allama Iqbal Open University in Pakistan specialising in Gender and Women Studies. Anila worked for more than 12 years in research institutions and NGOs in Pakistan with two focus areas: women’s rights and forced migration and integration policies.
Noor founded the New Women Connectors, a movement striving to mainstream the unheard voices of migrant and refugee women living across Europe. The movement also helps newcomer refugee women to lift their spirits and make something of it. She became involved in the subjects of forced migration and identity crises after going through the same experience.
“In 2011, I got a scholarship to come and study Gender and women studies in the Netherlands. While I was in the Netherland, due to a certain turn of events, we were forced to sever ties with our family and had to request asylum status to the Netherlands with my husband and 2 small children.
I was forced to become a refugee from a migrant. My life and networks were in Pakistan. I had to rebuild myself from scratch in the Netherlands. Suddenly, I had become a refugee.
I went into a deep state of denial. To become what I was in Pakistan, I had worked day and night. This new status meant, I had to start my life from scratch. While working on the policy making level, I noticed that there was no structured participation of refugees and migrants in the policy debates and decision-making platforms. If there are, their voices are not valued”. Her personal experience encouraged her to become an activist.
Noor is also a member of the European Migrant Advisory Board (EMAB), an initiative by Urban Agenda EU. The Board is a self-led group of advisors with refugee and immigrant backgrounds, working together to increase the involvement of immigrants and refugees in different policy-making processes affecting their access to rights. The EMAB wants to contribute to building a positive narrative on immigration and asylum and ending all forms of discrimination. It stands for universal human rights, equality and equity for all groups, and meaningful political and social participation.
On June 2018, Anila Noor participated in the first-ever Global Summit of Refugees that took place in Geneva, bringing together more than 80 international refugee leaders to work on a long-term, inclusive and effective refugee policy.
Anila Noor is also the co-organiser of the European Summit of Refugees and Migrants, which takes place in Brussels on 4-6 May 2019.
