Yonous Muhammadi

Forced to leave Afghanistan in 1997 during his final semester of medical college, Mr. Muhammadi remained in Pakistan and later Iran, where he worked to support other refugees but always with the hope of returning to Afghanistan. He finally was able to return in 2000 and continued his education and fight for democracy and women’s rights in his homeland. After being arrested by the Taliban, he escaped first to Turkey and then Greece, where he arrived in 2001 and was recognized as a political refugee. Mr. Muhammadi has actively participated in the creation of the Afghan Community in Greece, of which he was elected president from 2009 to 2013. In 2010, he helped found a refugee network, the Greek Forum of Refugees (GFR), which strives to promote cooperation between refugee communities. He was elected as President of GFR in 2013 and is active in providing everyday support for refugees, as well as working to advocate for their rights in Greece and beyond. Mr. Muhammadi is also committed to defending women’s rights and serves as an ambassador for White Ribbon, one of the world’s largest campaigns to end violence against women. In 2015, he was elected as a bureau member of the European Migration Forum in Brussels and in 2016 as a member of the National Council against Racism of the Ministry of Justice. In the same year His Idea (Refugees’ Ideas and Solution for Europe) was a winner of the 2016 Idea Challenge, through which a Network of Refugee and Migrant communities, RISE, was established. Mr. Muhammadi’ work and commitment was honored by Human Rights Watch, as recipient of «Alison Des Forges» Award for Extraordinary Activism in 2016. He currently serves on the Advisory Panel of Fundamental Rights Platform at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Updated May 2019