The National Press Club

Newsmaker: Khaled Hosseini, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) goodwill envoy and best-selling author

Topic: 2011 Global Report on Refugee Trends

Date: Wednesday, June 20

Time: 9 a.m.

Room: Zenger

Hosseini will give a briefing on the grim reality that today more people are forcibly displaced than any other year this decade. Hosseini has traveled to the field on several occasions both as a humanitarian and as an author. He has conducted hundreds of interviews with everyday Afghans and will use his experience to put a human face on these alarming trends

In 2011, record numbers of newly displaced refugees fled their home countries, as revealed in the UNHCR’s latest annual report on global displacement. As forced displacement levels remain high at more than 42 million, almost three-quarters of all refugees under UNHCR’s care are stuck in long -term displacement situations.

Hosseini will talk about large-scale trends, the urgent need for greater international assistance, the impact of long-term displacement on host communities, recent solutions for the Afghan refugee and displacement situation, and trends in industrialized countries such as the United States.

Contact: Lalit K. Jha, committee host, (917) 817-0859, lalitkjha@gmail.com