Rahab Mousslimani

“The basic human rights that all people are entitled to need to be adhered to - not just written on paper or spoken of.”

Rahab is particularly interested in the protection of human rights for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Her personal experiences of racial discrimination have drawn her to her role of Human Rights Youth Ambassador.

“Being of Islamic faith, after September 11 I started to suffer immense discrimination… especially during my time at university and when I started looking for employment,” says Rahab. “This discrimination didn’t just affect my mental health and self-esteem – it spread across many communities.”

“The damage (of the discrimination) was so bad that people were too scared to speak out because of fear of being locked up and the anti-terrorism laws making it easier for government to lock you up.”

Rahab recently graduated from Deakin University after studying human resources and Arabic. She has done a lot of volunteer work with Victorian Arabic Social Services, organising camps and working with and mentoring young people. She is also involved in the Arabic Youth radio show on 92.3fm, was a member of YMCA’s Youth Parliament and has developed a sustainable project with Lifesaving Victoria to train 10 Muslim lifeguards.

Rahab was nominated by the Centre for Multicultural Youth.