After Paris: The Refugee Crisis

Ongoing conflicts around the world have displaced sixty million refugees, with the war in Syria creating an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Half of the country’s population has been forced from their homes, and over four million Syrians have fled their homeland. Many are crossing the Aegean Sea in rafts or walking across Serbia and Hungary to reach Europe, which now faces its worst refugee crisis since World War II.

Given the severity of the situation, it is essential to examine Western policies towards these refugees. This half-day event examines the moral, legal, social, and political aspects of the challenges posed by recent mass displacement with a focus on current and future policy solutions. Participants include State Department officials such as Deputy Assistant Secretary Dafna Rand, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Simon Henshaw, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration; Ambassador Peter Wittig, the German ambassador to the United States; New America president Anne-Marie Slaughter; author Kati Marton; Syrian community organizers Zaher and Suzanne Sahloul; and many others.

Featuring Introductory Remarks by Anne Marie Slaughter, President, New America and Kati Marton, Board Member, New America.

Panel 1: Syrian Refugees: On the Ground Perspectives featuring Zaher Sahloul, President, Syrian American Medical Society; Suzanne Sahloul, Founder and President, Syrian Community Network; Muna Jondy, Chair of Government Relations, United for a Free Syria; and, Qutaiba Idlbi, Co-founder and Director of Operations, People Demand Change. Moderated by Peter Bergen, Vice President, New America and Professor, Arizona State. 

Panel 2: Policy Responses to the Refugee Crisis featuring Elizabeth Campbell, Senior Humanitarian Policy Advisor, Bureau of International Organization Affairs; Dafna Rand, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; and, Simon Henshaw, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Moderated by Peter Bergen, Vice President, New America and Professor, Arizona State.

Panel 3: The Refugee Crisis featuring Anne Marie Slaughter, President, New America; Kati Marton, Board Member, New America; Gregory Maniatis, Senior European Policy Fellow, Migration Policy Institute; and, Ambassador Peter Wittig, German ambassador to the United States. Moderated by Leon Wieseltier, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution.