Refugee Crises: Improving Lives, Protecting Rights

_Image via Tolga Sezgin/Shutterstock.com_According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, there are currently 65 million refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced persons in the world. War and internal conflicts have led to this record-high number as individuals from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Myanmar have been forced from their homes. Global climate changes have also impacted people in the four famines--South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen--where decades of ongoing conflicts and severe droughts have led to an increase in internally displaced persons. As the US seeks to limit accepting refugees and other countries struggle to host new populations, how are displaced persons protected? How is Refugees International, an independent humanitarian organization responding to displacement crises, providing support? Eric Schwartz, President of Refugees International and former Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, will join us to discuss the relief efforts which are improving the lives of refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced persons. SPEAKER: Eric P. Schwartz [http://www.worldaffairs.org/event-calendar/speaker-directory/eric-p-schwartz] President, Refugees International