Director for the Middle East and North Africa Bureau, UNHCR
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Amin Awad’s distinguished service with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spans more than 25 years, including service in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and UNHCR’s Headquarters. His UN career assumed managerial functions and serving in countries at the peak of crises, such as in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Yemen, Tajikistan, Macedonia, Northern Iraq, the Jordanian-Iraqi border and the Kenya-Somalia Cross Border operation and the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine, among other field assignments. During his four-year tenure in Macedonia, Awad went on to become the coordinator of the Iraq subregion operations for the Bureau for Central Asia, Southwest Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, based at UNHCR headquarters. In August 2009, Awad returned to UNHCR Headquarters as the director of the newly-created Division of Emergency, Security and Supply. Starting from 2013, Awad became the director of the Middle East and North Africa Bureau at UNHCR headquarters and the regional refugee coordinator for Syria and Iraq.
The below transcript is from the second panel of MEI’s 72nd Annual Conference, held on November 8, 2018 at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington, D.C.
Panel Summary
As the region’s civil wars continue to destabilize economies and devastate the local populations, how can a political process be established to end these conflicts? What are the crucial steps to ending the civil wars that plague the region? What are the roles of governments and international actors in pursuing a solution?
