Women’s Rights, Human Rights, and Refugees

The Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East’s program on Women’s Rights, Human Rights, and Refugees in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) produces in-depth research and substantive policy recommendations to help practitioners and policymakers assess ongoing developments and improve knowledge on these critical topics. The program also hosts public lectures and policy-oriented workshops to disseminate research and build bridges between scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in the MENA region and the United States.

The program focuses on five main areas of study:

1. Tracking, monitoring, and promoting women’s rights in the MENA region.
2. Respect for human rights and inclusive citizenship by governments in the MENA region.
3. The rights of refugees, displaced people, and migrants residing in MENA host states.
4. Global trends in refugee and migration governance and the securitization of borders.
5. The relationship between displacement and climate change in the MENA region and worldwide.

Led by Kelsey Norman, Ph.D., fellow for the Middle East, this research program takes an interdisciplinary and human-centric approach, collaborating with partner organizations and regional scholars with a wide range of expertise. It aims not only to produce impactful and timely policy recommendations that address these areas of research but also to promote a better understanding of the intertwined factors shaping outcomes for women’s rights, human rights, and refugee rights in the MENA region and globally.