KAREN KONING ABUZAYD is an Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, and serves as Deputy Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). She has held that post since August 2000.

Before joining UNRWA, Ms. AbuZayd worked for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for 19 years. She served as Chef de Cabinet to High Commissioner Sadako Ogata and as Regional Representative for the United States and Caribbean, where she focused on funding, public information, and the legal issues of asylum-seekers. She also served as Chief of Mission in Sarajevo for two years during the Bosnian war.

From 1991 to 1993, Ms. AbuZayd directed the South African repatriation operation and the Kenya-Somali cross-border operation from UNHCR's Headquarters in Geneva. She also directed the UNHCR office in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and helped coordinate the return of apartheid era refugees while in Namibia in 1989.

Ms. AbuZayd began her humanitarian career in Sudan in 1981, handling the issues of Ugandan, Chadian, and Ethiopian refugees fleeing from war and famine in their own countries. Before joining UNHCR, Karen lectured in Political Science and Islamic Studies at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and at Juba University in southern Sudan.

She earned her B.Sc. in Nursing at DePauw University and her M.A. in Islamic Studies at McGill University.

Moderator

KATHLEEN NEWLAND is co-director and co-founder of the Migration Policy Institute. Her work focuses on refugee protection, international humanitarian response, and migration management. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she co-directed the International Migration Policy Program (1994-2001). She chairs the Board of Directors of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children and sits on the Board of the International Rescue Committee.