Asia's Internally Displaced Women and Children
VIEW EVENT DETAILSIn recent years internal displacement has become one of the most pressing humanitarian, human rights, political and security issues facing the global community. In the Asia-Pacific region there are over 4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). The economic exclusion of certain ethnic and religious minority groups, combined with competition for land and resources are at the heart of many of the region's most prevalent conflicts. However, conflict-based displacement in Asia is dwarfed by the magnitude of forced population movements caused by development projects and natural disasters, such as the March earthquake in Japan, the October 2005 South Asia earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami, which displaced more than 1.8 million people in Asia.
Join our panel of experts in a discussion of the major challenges facing IDPs, including spotlights on Pakistan, Afghanistan, Japan, Burma and the Philippines.
Dawn Calabia, Senior Advisor, Refugees International
At Refugees International (RI), Dawn Calabia follows legislative and executive branch developments, works to increase RI’s impact in Congress, provides special assistance on issues of statelessness and Burmese advocacy. She served as Acting Director of the United Nations' Washington Information Office, and worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Prior, she was the Director of Refugee Policy and Development for the US Catholic Conference Migration office, worked for the House International Relations Committee specializing in refugee issues, and was one of the founders of the Women’s Refugee Commission. In 1996, she was honored at the White House for her human rights work with refugee women and children.
Roberta Cohen, Nonresident Senior Fellow and Senior Adviser, The Brookings Institution
Roberta Cohen co-founded and for more than a decade co-directed The Brookings Institution Project on Internal Displacement. She also served as senior adviser to the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons from 1994-2010, and now serves as senior adviser to the Brookings Project. Together with Francis M. Deng, Cohen co-authored the first major study on internal displacement, Masses in Flight: The Global Crisis of Internal Displacement (Brookings, 1998), organized and participated in the process leading to the development of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, and was co-recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order (2005).
T. Kumar, Director, International Advocacy, Amnesty International USA
T. Kumar has worked in several Asian and African countries and served as a human rights monitor in many Asian countries as well as in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Guatemala, and South Africa. He has also been the director of several refugee camps.
This event is co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University.
This series has been underwritten by LEO A DALY with additional funding provided by Henrietta Holsman Fore.
Event Details
Asia Society Washington, The Cinnabar Room, Whittemore House, 2nd Flr., 1526 New Hampshire Ave, NW