Syrian refugee settled in Newcastle becomes youngest ever UNICEF Ambassador

A Syrian refugee who settled in Newcastle has become the youngest ever UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Muzoon Almellehan, 19, has been supporting education for girls since fleeing her war-torn home in 2013. The appointment makes Muzoon the first person with official refugee status to achieve the title.

Muzoon, who received support from UNICEF while living in Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, recently travelled to Chad where she met children forced out of school due to conflict. She met with children forced out of school due to the Boko Haram conflict in the Lake Chad region.

“As a refugee, I saw what happens when children are forced into early marriage or manual labor – they lose out on education and they lose out on possibilities for the future. That’s why I am proud to be working with UNICEF to help give these children a voice and to get them into school.”

Muzoon fled the conflict in Syria along with her family in 2013, living as refugee for three years in Jordan before being resettled in the United Kingdom. It was during her 18 months in the Za’atari camp that she began advocating for children’s access to education, particularly for girls.

An estimated 25 million children of primary and secondary school are out of school in conflict zones. For children living as refugees, only half are enrolled in primary school and less than a quarter are enrolled in secondary school.