Fernando Vasco Chironda

Co-Founder and Executive Secretary General, October Third Committee

Italy

Fernando Vasco Chironda is the executive secretary general of the October Third Committee (Comitato Tre Ottobre), a nonprofit organization he co-founded to remember and support migrants following the tragedy on October 3, 2013, in which 368 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa. Fernando led the movement to mark October 3rd as a day of remembrance and welcome for all victims of migration. In 2016, the Italian Parliament officially recognized the day. Since then, Fernando and his team have continued to bring survivors, their families, students, and policymakers together to raise awareness and develop new solutions to improve the EU's existing migration policies. Originally from Mozambique, Fernando began his activism as a teenager when he formed the Federation of Youth Associations of Mozambique to address systemic inequities and human rights violations, especially related to discrimination against women.