The Global Refugee Crisis: Flight and Resettlement

Join Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for a free panel discussion at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Library Lecture Hall that will address the pressing issues of refugee resettlement in the U.S. and around the world.

At a time where there are more displaced people in the world than there have been since World War II, the resettlement burden falls most heavily on the nations immediately surrounding the worst war zones on the planet. That has meant that the wealthiest nations have taken in far fewer people than countries with a fraction of the resources.

Too often, the conversation around refugee issues is reduced to overly simplistic, dehumanizing rhetoric. But what resettlement actually means—the logistics, the duration of the process, the struggles of those who are resettled—gets lost.

To discuss the realities and challenges of resettlement, the director of refugee resettlement for Pittsburgh’s Northern Area Multi Service Agency joins Doctors Without Borders USA executive director Jason Cone, and Sue Johnston, a veteran Doctors Without Borders aid worker. They will discuss the connections between Doctors Without Borders’ work in the field and the people who’ve been resettled in the Pittsburgh area, issues mirrored in other communities throughout the US.

A Q&A will follow the discussion.

Panelists include:

Jason Cone, Doctors Without Borders USA Executive Director.

Sue Johnston, LICSW, who worked with internally displaced people in Myanmar for Doctors Without Borders, supporting teams who helped displaced HIV/TB patients adhere to their medications, and assess the mental health needs of people displaced by conflict. In Minneapolis, she was a refugee mental health liaison for a resettlement agency, assessing the needs of refugee populations and training other mental health professionals to serve those populations. As well, she has provided direct mental health care to several refugee populations, including Somalis and Burmese, following their resettlement in Minnesota.

Kheir Mugwaneza, director of refugee resettlement for Northern Area Multi-Service Center in Pittsburgh.

NOTE: Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please arrive early. If you have not checked-in prior to five minutes before the start of the panel, your reservation is no longer guaranteed.