HOUSTON – (June 18, 2024) – An expert on the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy is available to discuss the annual internationally observed June 20 holiday “World Refugee Day,” which recognizes the rights, experiences and plight of global refugees — including many who have settled in Texas.
Kelsey Norman, fellow for the Middle East and director of the Women’s Rights, Human Rights and Refugees Program at the Baker Institute, focuses her research on refugee and migration issues in the Middle East and globally as well as on the politics of women’s rights and human rights.
“Most people don’t want to leave their home countries, but for those who are forced to do so, we have a global system of refugee recognition and asylum in order to ensure that people facing persecution and other deadly scenarios are protected,” Norman said. “We all have to play our part, whether it’s the United States or another country, and World Refugee Day helps us remember that.”
At the Baker Institute, Norman’s program has produced cutting-edge research on gender and displacement, the intersection of climate change and migration and particular refugee crises, including the impact of the war in Gaza or Sudanese refugees who have had to leave their homes.
She wrote an award-winning book on refugees in the Middle East, and her Foreign Affairs article, “Rich Countries Cannot Outsource Their Migration Dilemmas,” won the 2021 Perry World House-Foreign Affairs Emerging Scholars Policy Prize. She regularly gives radio and television interviews and public lectures on topics related to her research and analysis. Additionally, she is an advisory board member of Refugees Solidarity Network in New York.