Muna Duzdar (born 22 August 1978) is an Austrian politician. She was a State secretary in the Austrian Federal Chancellery from 2016 to 2017. When she was appointed on 17 May 2016 she became the first Muslim person to hold a post in the

Austrian Federal government The Government of Austria (german: Bundesregierung der Republik Österreich) is the executive cabinet of the Republic of Austria. It consists of the chancellor, who is the head of government, the vice chancellor and the ministers. Appointm ...

Early life and education

Duzdar was raised in

Donaustadt Donaustadt (; literally, Danube City; Central Bavarian: ''Donaustod'') is the 22nd district of Vienna, Austria (german: 22. Bezirk, Donaustadt). Donaustadt is the eastern district of Vienna.Statistik Austria, 2007, webpage statistik.at-23450. ...

, a district of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, as the daughter of

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

immigrants. She studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

followed by postgraduate Master studies in

International law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

University. On 9 November 2011 she passed her bar exam and has been working as a lawyer since 2012. During her studies she was working as law secretary at the Austrian Tenants' Association from 1999 to 2001. After that she worked for the Socialist Youth Austria as international secretary until 2004. This was followed by an internship at the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

from 2004 to 2005. During her Master studies she worked as foreign language assistant in two Paris suburbs,

Livry-Gargan Livry-Gargan () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. History On 20 May, 1869, a part of the territory of Livry-Gargan was detached and merged with a part of the territory of Clich ...

and

Clichy-sous-Bois Clichy-sous-Bois () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from central Paris.Parti Socialiste in Paris.

Career

Duzdar started her political career in 2001 when she became a district councillor for

. In 2010 she was sworn in as a member of the Federal Council where she took on the responsibility of speaker for foreign policy for the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

. She was also a member of several committees within the Federal Council. On 18 November 2012 Duzdar left the Federal Council and switched to the Vienna, where she was sworn in on 19 November 2012 taking over Karin Schrödl's position. Duzdar considers foreign policy, education, integration and housing as her main political focus areas. On 17 May 2016 Muna Duzdar was appointed as state secretary in the Federal Chancellery by Chancellor

Christian Kern Christian Kern (; born 4 January 1966) is an Austrian businessman and former politician who served as Chancellor of Austria from 17 May 2016 to 18 December 2017 and chairman of the Social Democratic Party from 25 June 2016 to 25 September 2018. ...

, who himself had assumed that position on 9 May 2016 after his predecessor Werner Faymann had stepped down. Until 2017, she was responsible for "Administration and Public Service", as well as "Diversity and Digitalization". She was elected into the National Council for the Social Democratic Party in 2017, after she was discharged as State secretary by the newly elected ÖVP-FPÖ government.

Personal life

Duzdar's parents are

immigrants. Her father was an employee of

UNIDO The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in ...

, her mother was a housewife. She has five siblings and her native languages are German and Arabic. She describes herself as a non-practicing Muslima, which makes her the first member of the Austrian federal government that belongs to the Muslim faith. Duzdar was also the president of the Palestinian-Austrian Association.

References

External links

Muna Duzdar
at meineabgeordneten.at {{DEFAULTSORT:Duzdar, Muna 1978 births Living people Politicians from Vienna Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians University of Vienna alumni University of Paris alumni Austrian people of Palestinian descent Austrian Muslims 21st-century Austrian women politicians 21st-century Austrian politicians Austrian expatriates in France