The Global Refugee Crisis: A Public Forum

Wednesday, September 21, 2016, 7:30 - 9pm

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Photo by Francesco Zizola

Photo by Francesco Zizola

Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on September 21 for a free panel discussion at Cooper Union in New York City focusing on potential solutions to the global refugee crisis—what is being done, and what is not.

Just two days earlier, on September 19, world leaders will convene at the United Nations General Assembly for a special session focused on the crisis. On September 20, President Obama will convene a similar meeting at the White House.

What will be determined at these meetings? What policies will or will not be enacted? Will anything be done to provide some relief to the more than 21 million refugees worldwide, to say nothing of the 40 million-plus internally displaced people in the world, who together form the largest population of displaced people the planet has seen since World War II.

With journalist Ann Curry moderating, Karen Koning AbuZayd, Special Advisor to the UN Summit on Migrants and Refugees; Jason Cone, executive director of MSF-USA; and Hans Van de Weerd, the International Rescue Committee’s deputy director of US programs, will discuss the solutions being offered and the many challenges ahead for people who, through no fault of their own, have been forced from home.

A Q&A will follow the discussion.

Panelists include:

  • Jason Cone, MSF-USA executive director
  • Karen Koning AbuZayd, Special Adviser to the U.N. Summit on Refugees and Migrants
  • Hans Van de Weerd, Vice President for US programs at the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Moderated by journalist Ann Curry.

Registration is requested.

This event is part of Forced from Home, a free interactive exhibition designed to raise public awareness of the world’s 60 million refugees presented by Doctors Without Borders.

Located in The Great Hall, in the Foundation Building, 7 East 7th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.