Milstein Emeritus Director at Refugees International
Refugees International is an organization which fights for the protection of people who have been displaced, offers them assistance, and advocates and promotes for the resolution of whatever conflicts were the initial cause of the displacement. Connie Milstein is an Emeritus Director for Refugees International. As such she is dedicated to respond the challenges caused by international crisis and conflicts, such as the following:
• If a refugee crisis is ignored or not dealt with properly this situation can have worldwide destabilizing effect. At the moment there are almost 42 million people around the globe with refugee status. An additional 12 million live in limbo as stateless without any citizenship rights. These people are among the world’s most vulnerable, each one with a heartbreaking personal story of loss, suffering and survival to tell.
• A conflict can spread across borders if it is not dealt with an immediate, appropriate way, threatening stability. Refugees International responds quickly with food, medicine and education. They look for ways to get the refugees home. Peacekeepers offer protection to the refugees and stateless individuals are helped to receive a useful legal status. Refugees International arose in 1979 as a grass roots citizen’s movement to offer assistance and protection to the refugees of Indochina. Today they have expanded to become the world’s premier organization which advocates for refugees and provokes appropriate action form world leaders to find solutions to global conflicts which cause refugees to flee. Refugees International is completely independent, not accepting money from governments or the United Nations, allowing the organization to maintain independence and non-partiality.