Refugees, Migrants, and People on the Move

The number of refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people around the world has topped 65 million according to UNHCR. Increased terrorist groups like Boko Haram and al-Shabaab, civil conflicts in Syria and the Middle East, and economic disparities have spurred a complex web of migration routes globally. Amidst these migration flows women and children are affected disproportionately, facing a greater risk of sexual violence and trafficking, economic exploitation, and emotional trauma. Are emergency response systems prioritizing the most vulnerable people? What services are available for migrants and refugees at every stage of their journey?

Context

Background reading and multimedia

Towards a Global Compact on Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 2017
Women and Girls at Risk in the Rohingya Refugee Crisis
Mayesha Alam, Council on Foreign Relations, September 27, 2017
The US and the Refugee Crisis
Scott Cooper, The New York Times, September 22, 2017
The Number of Forcibly Displaced People Grew to a Record in 2016
The Data Team, The Economist, June 20, 2017
Syrian Refugee Crisis is Changing Women’s Roles: Aid Agency
Emma Batha, Reuters, September 9, 2016

Karen AbuZayd

Commissioner, Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva

Karen AbuZayd is the commissioner for the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. She was the former commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. AbuZayd also served in UNHCR’s Geneva headquarters as regional representative for the United States and the Caribbean. She has worked for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for nineteen years, including as chief of mission in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war, as well as in Sudan, Namibia and Sierra Leone. She was a lecturer in political science and Islamic studies at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and at Juba University in southern Sudan. AbuZayd holds a BS from DePauw University and a MA in Islamic Studies from McGill University in Canada

Kathleen Newland

Senior Fellow and Cofounder, Migration Policy Institute

Kathleen Newland is a senior fellow and cofounder of the Migration Policy Institute as well as a member of the Board of Trustees. Her work focuses on the relationship between migration and development, the governance of international migration, and refugee protection. Previously she was senior associate and co-director of the International Migration Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Newland is the author and editor of several books and a former faculty member of the London School of Economics and the staff of the United Nations University in Tokyo. She sits on the Board of Overseers of the International Rescue Committee, USA for UNHCR, and the Foundation for The Hague Process on Migrants and Refugees. Newland is also a Chair Emerita of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. She holds degrees from Harvard University and the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Juliet Sorensen

Harry R. Horrow Professor in International Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

Juliet Sorensen is the Harry R. Horrow Professor in International Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and a founder of the Northwestern Access to Health Project, an interdisciplinary partnership that analyzes access to health in resource limited settings. She is a member of the New York and Massachusetts Bars and the Federal Bar Association. Sorensen was also appointed to the American Bar Association's Global Anti-Corruption Task Force and the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights Working Group on Crimes Against Humanity. During her tenure as an assistant US Attorney in the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago, she was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was named a Chicago Council on Global Affairs “Emerging Leader”. Sorensen holds a BA in politics from Princeton University and a JD from Columbia University School of Law.

Refugees, Migrants, and People on the Move

Refugees, Migrants, and People on the Move

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