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Rethinking the On-Going Refugee Crisis: Listening to Refugees as Key StakeholdersAlmost one year ago, I co-authored a position paper for the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) titled International Migration and Refugee Crisis Intervention, in which a colleague and I argued that developed countries “have a collective moral responsibility to enact a comprehensive and coordinated refugee and migration response” to the Syrian refugee crisis.[1] Unfortunately, over the last year the refugee “crisis” has subsided only slightly and... |
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Reprinted: A Condolence Letter from S-CAR's Dean to the Family of Yama Quraishi Dear Mr. Ambassador: |
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Interview with Dr. Fariba Parsa, Visiting Scholar, Founder and President of WELL This is a short interview conducted with Dr. Fariba Parsa, Founder and President of WELL - Women's E-Learning in Leadership. The organization originated at George Mason University and is on the way to becoming a non-profit organization (501(c)(3)). |
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From the Streets of Iran to Washington D.C.: Fighting for Human Rights for AllShortly after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the late 1970s, my mother marched in the streets of Iran to fight for women's basic right to freedom and expression. The incoming government had brought with it its own fundamentalist version of Islam and was brutally enforcing its laws on the people of Iran - a nation previously known as the strongest and most modernized country in the Middle East. Women were soon treated as second class citizens, being told what to wear, how to live, how to act, and what to think. Over 30 years later, my mother was once again marching for women's rights, this... |
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Amir S. Abu-El-Hawa, Undergraduate StudentAmir S. Abu-El-Hawa, an undergraduate student at Mason, recently returned to the U.S. after taking part in an international security study in Switzerland. He said, “This opportunity gave me access to organizations such as the United Nations in Geneva, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels, The International Criminal Court at the Hague, and the Council of Europe in France.” At these organizations, Amir interacted with policy makers and experts in the fields of nonproliferation, and human rights laws among others. According to him, this experience was a “phenomenal opportunity” that changed his... |
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Liz London, MS Student In her junior year in college, Liz London had a semester abroad in Jerusalem. While she was there, conflict resolution and dialogue work took ahold of her as she heard stories and met people working on the ground. Once she got back to the U.S., Liz found work with Face to Face: Faith to Faith, an international program in conflict resolution for teens, bringing together youth from all over the world to do intensive workshops on a range of topics including faith, identity, and race among others. Liz’s work during this period gave her a lasting impression that this was an area that she could invest in the future. |
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Another Chance to Revive the Central Asian UnionThe death of Islam Karimov in September 2016 from a stroke came as a shock not only to the people of Uzbekistan but to the entire Central Asian region. The health of Karimov, who passed away at the age of 78, was a closely guarded secret and was never discussed by government officials. Without openly grooming a successor or endorsing anyone to take his place during his last days, his death also brought uncertainty, which raised the possibility of political instability and security deterioration in the country. The first signs of such a controversy occurred when Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, sent a letter of condolence to Nigmatilla Yuldashev, the speaker of the house who was then acting as the President of Uzbekistan. Shortly after this, Uzbekistan’s Parliament announced that Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Prime Minister, would be the new acting President, prompting some... |
Johannes Melchior Botes, 64, of Annandale, VA, passed away on January 22nd, 2017. He is survived by his wife, Susan; children Hannah and Noah; siblings, in-laws, friends, and colleagues.
Visitation will be held at St. Matthew's United Methodist Church, 8617 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA 22003 on February 4th, 2017 at 3:00 PM until the start of the service at 4:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the ALS Association in Johannes' name.