A webinar hosted by the United Nations Association of New York
Dana Sleiman
Senior Communications Officer
UNHCR (New York)
Shabnam Fayyaz
Afghan refugee and U.S. student
Nora Salitan
Volunteer Coordinator and Community Liaison
Church World Service (CWS)
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Thursday | 21 October 2021 | 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. EST
Since the United Nations General Assembly established the UN High Commissioner’s Office for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1950, the organization has provided assistance to refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced and stateless people in multiple continents. In the past decade, the global refugee population has more than doubled; 68% of the world’s refugee population comes from just five countries and the number of people forcibly displaced around the world is growing at an alarming rate.
UNHCR has over 17,00 personnel working in 132 countries and has helped over 50 million refugees to restart their lives. In times of displacement, UNHCR provides emergency assistance in the form of clean water, sanitation and healthcare, as well as shelter, blankets, household goods, and food.
Join us to hear from Dana Sleiman, Senior Communications Officer at UNHCR, who will give an overview of forced displacement and discuss the outlook for the future. Also participating will be Shabnam Fayyaz, who will share her first-hand experiences as a refugee from Afghanistan, and who is currently a student in New York. To round things out, Nora Salitan from the Church World Service (CWS) will describe what New Yorkers can do to welcome new arrivals to our area. CWS is a faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement, and disaster.
Guest Speakers
Dana Sleiman
Dana Sleiman is the Senior Communications Officer at the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Born in Beirut, Ms. Sleiman started working for UNHCR Lebanon in March 2011, the month when violence erupted in neighbouring Syria. She served as spokesperson for UNHCR's Lebanon operation, working with Arab and international media to advocate on behalf of Syrian refugees. Before joining UNHCR, Sleiman served for 4 years with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as Communications Officer for a reform project at the Lebanese Ministry of Justice. Sleiman holds a BA in economics and an MA in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut. She also holds an MSt in International Human Right Law from the University of Oxford. She is a Said Foundation Scholar.
Shabnam Fayyaz
Shabnam was born in Ghazni, Afghanistan and lived most of the first nine years of her life in a refugee community in Quetta, Pakistan. After graduation from high school in Kabul, Shabnam spent two years in Bangladesh at the Asian University for Women studying English. Subsequently, she was given an opportunity to come to the United States where she attended Earlham College, a small liberal arts college, and majored in Peace and Global Studies with a concentration in law and justice. At Earlham, Shabnam was a member of the Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field teams for four years. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in Human Rights Studies at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University and is particularly interested in the topics of refugees and forced migration and women's rights. After Shabnam graduates from Columbia in December of this year, she hopes to work for an international organization on behalf of refugees and displaced people.
Nora Salitan
Nora Salitan is the Volunteer Coordinator and Community Liaison for Church World Service Jersey City. Born and raised in New York City, she has had a lifelong passion for immigration justice. Before working at CWS she worked as a political organizer for NextGen New Hampshire. She was also a volunteer translator for asylum seekers at the New Sanctuary Coalition for three years. She holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.