War and Asylum, Jan 25 2024

Thursday, January 25, 2024

10:00 – 11:30am (EST)

This was a virtual event

The mass production of refugees is overwhelming due to wars. Astonishingly, more than half of the world’s refugees (52%) and others in need of international protection come from just three countries: Syrian Arab Republic; Ukraine; and, Afghanistan. In fact, 87 percent of all people who were refugees at the end of 2022 came from only 10 countries and all of them wracked by war, save Venezuela, a special case. The other six included: South Sudan; Myanmar; Democratic Republic of Congo; Sudan; Somalia; and Central African Republic. Many of these countries have been in embroiled in wars for decades. The relationship between war and forced displacement and refugeehood is crystal clear. The purpose of this Webinar is to examine critically the relationship between war and asylum and to focus on one of the principal root causes of forced displacement and how it ought to be addressed.

Speakers:

Azadeh Tamjeedi, Senior Legal Officer/Head of the Protection Unit, UNHCR Canada

Azadeh Tamjeedi is a Senior Legal Officer at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Canada. She has worked with UNHCR since 2017 and is currently based in Ottawa. During her time with UNHCR she also worked at the office in Vancouver for two years. In 2018, Azadeh completed an emergency deployment to Boa Vista, Brazil to assist with the large number of Venezuelans arriving in the country. Prior to working with UNHCR, Azadeh worked as a lawyer at the Centre Francophone de Toronto where she represented asylum-seekers before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) and the Federal Court of Canada. As a law student, she specialized in social justice issues and gained valuable advocacy experience at the Parkdale Legal Clinic in the area of poverty law. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Honours History and Political Science from McGill University and a Juris Doctorate degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. Azadeh was called to the Ontario bar in 2011.

Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Department of Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University

Ann Fitz-Gerald is the Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a Professor in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science Department. She has worked at both at King’s College, London University’s International Policy Institute, and at Cranfield University, where she was the Director, Defence and Security Leadership. During her time at Cranfield, Ann led the UK-Government funded Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform and Cranfield’s Centre for Security Sector Management. She also designed and developed the Masters programme in Security Sector Management, which is delivered in both the UK and East Africa.

And on behalf of CARFMS:

Stephanie Stobbe, President of CARFMS, Associate Professor in Conflict Resolution Studies at Menno Simons College

Sorpong Peou, Director at Large, Professor of Global Peace and Security Studies, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Toronto Metropolitan University

James C. Simeon, Vice-President, Associate Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University