Maynooth University's Marwa Zamir has been named Law Student of the Year 2024
The Kildare university has congratulated Marwa Zamir, a second-year student on the LLB Bachelor of Laws course, who arrived in Ireland from Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2016 at the age of 13 and was granted refugee status
Maynooth University student, Marwa Zamir, has been named Law Student of the Year 2024 at the Dye and Durham Irish Law Awards, held last Friday.
The University has congratulated Marwa Zamir, a second-year student on the LLB Bachelor of Laws course, who arrived in Ireland from Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2016 at the age of 13 and was granted refugee status. Her time in Direct Provision fuelled her passion for advocacy and community involvement.
Marwa, who is 20, has been actively advocating from a young age and became a youth leader in the Irish Refugee Council. She is the youngest member of the Refugee Advisory Board of UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Ireland, where she works to promote the voices of refugees in policy decisions that affect them and advocates for young people.
This year, Marwa was selected for Young People's Committee of the National Youth Council of Ireland. In this role, she attended the EU Youth Conference 2024 in Belgium in March.
Recently, Marwa participated in the Virgin Media TV series Second Chances, hosted by Rebecca Tallon De Havilland, which focuses on empowering individuals who have faced and overcome challenges. In Second Chances, she describes her experience growing up in a war zone and witnessing a massacre outside her uncle’s house in Kabul.
Speaking of Marwa's success, Head of the School of Law and Criminology, Dr Fergus Ryan said, “I am delighted that Marwa Zamir has been awarded Law Student of the Year 2024 at the Dye and Durham Irish Law Awards. Marwa readily deserves this accolade, given the superb contribution she has made in several spheres as a brilliant and committed advocate and leader.
“We are so proud of Marwa and delighted with this achievement. Marwa's success is all the more impressive given the very competitive nature of this category, with high-achieving students drawn from top law schools all over Ireland. I wish Marwa every success in the future.”
Dye & Durham Irish Law Awards aim to identify, honour, and publicise outstanding achievements, while also recognising those who have dedicated their lives to serving in the legal profession.