Group of 78 Luncheon Speaker Series

Jean-Nicolas Beuze

Can Canada Do more for Refugees? (PDF)

$30 for luncheon and presentation (12:00 p.m.)

$5 for presentation only (arrive 12:45 p.m. Coffee and tea will be available)

 RESERVATIONS: Group78@group78.org  613-565-9449 ext. 22 by Friday, March 22, 2019

Late registrations are welcome for presentation only.

Payment/registration options:
1) Interac e-transfer: direct deposit payment to group78@group78.org, please include a note with registrants info.
2) e-mail RSVP  (cheque, cash, credit, debit at the door):
3) Online (Eventbrite)

Online Registration

*Individuals who do not cancel their reservations for the lunch at least 24 hours before the luncheon will be billed $30.

Outline

With some 25 million refugees – a record since WWII – on top of which one should add more than 40 million internally displaced, and some 250 million migrants, human mobility has become a major topic of discussion. While the overwhelming majority of those forcibly displaced will remain in the developing world where new partnerships with the private sector or international financial institutions are making us revisit the paradigms of international aid, Western countries have been prone to populist rhetoric that is leading to more and more stringent and security-focused policies. If Western media highlighted the Rohingya refugee crisis for a few months, most crises remain underreported and as a result, the gap between humanitarian funding requirements to save lives and donations – from governments in particular – is increasing. Solutions exist though – including in Canada through resettlement of the most vulnerable – although the gap between the needs and the spaces offered is similarly increasing. What is the role of Canada in addressing these challenges and seizing opportunities to do better?

Bio

Jean-Nicolas Beuze worked for more than 20 years with the United Nations in the areas of Human Rights (OHCHR), Peacekeeping (DPKO) and UNICEF at Headquarters and in the field (Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Afghanistan and the Middle-East and North Africa region) before joining UNHCR in Lebanon as Deputy Representative for Protection and Inter-Agency Coordination.

Prior to joining UNHCR, he was the UNICEF Child Protection Advisor for the MENA region (2010-13) working on emergency responses in Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and strengthening public child protection and education systems in the region. He was previously appointed as the Deputy Director of the Human Rights Unit of UN Peace-Keeping/DPKO mission in Afghanistan/UNAMA (2008-10) focusing on women’s rights, elections, poverty and the protection of civilians.

He previously worked as a Research Director in a human rights think-tank (International Council on Human Rights Policy) on issues of peace agreements, transitional justice, national human rights institutions and the reform of the UN human rights system. Jean-Nicolas Beuze holds a LL.M in international human rights law from Essex University, UK, and a Master in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International Relations, Geneva/Switzerland.