Uprooted and Unprotected: 110 million displaced lives

The 2024 Red Cross Oration is brought to you in partnership by the Australian Red Cross and the University of Tasmania.

Amidst a backdrop of global conflict, political unrest, and the escalating impacts of climate change, forced displacement remains one of the most pressing challenges of our time. At the end of June 2023, the UNHCR reported that a staggering 110 million people had been forcibly displaced from their homes due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing the public order. To put this into perspective, that’s more than four times the population of Australia.

So how should governments, communities and individuals respond to the global humanitarian need? And what part does a country like Australia, or even a remote island like Tasmania, have to play?

Attend this talk to go behind the headlines and explore the challenges associated with forced displacement and migration. Join the director of the Red Cross’ global centre for migration research, the University’s leading expert on international refugee law, and a passionate human rights activist who has experienced displacement firsthand for this in-depth discussion, and consider possible solutions, advocacy efforts, and the pressing need for collective action.

The experts

• Sanushka Mudaliar, Director, Red Cross Red Crescent Global Migration Lab, hosted by Australian Red Cross
• Arad Nik, Human Rights Activist, Refugee and Business Owner
• Hosted by Dr Tamara Wood, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Tasmania

Attend online
Join this talk in-person, or online. To attend online, register via Zoom, and we'll email you details. To register for the in-person event, get your free tickets through Humanitix.

Pre-event refreshments
Head to the venue early and enjoy complimentary refreshments from 5.30pm.

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Sanushka Mudaliar, Director, Red Cross Red Crescent Global Migration Lab, hosted by Australian Red Cross
Sanushka has over 20 years of experience working in Australia, Cambodia, China, Singapore and the U.K on policy advocacy, research and global program management related to migration. Sanushka has worked for Womyn's Agenda for Change Cambodia, Oxfam Australia, the Association for Women's Rights in Development and the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at Singapore Management University, and as a specialist consultant on labour migration and human rights advising United Nations bodies (ILO, IOM, UN Women), and regional intergovernmental organisations (African Union, ASEAN) amongst others.

The Red Cross Red Crescent Global Migration Lab, hosted by Australian Red Cross, works with Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations in countries all over the world to produce research, informed by humanitarian operations and the lived experience of migrants and communities, concerning the humanitarian needs and vulnerabilities of people affected by migration. The Lab provides the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, humanitarian partners and governments with recommendations, trends and insights to advance humanitarian goals in migration-related policies, practices and operations at the local, regional and global levels.

Arad Nik, Human Rights Activist, Business Owner and Refugee from Southern Iran
Arad fled his country in August 2012 after being imprisoned and tortured for advocating for his minority group, Ahwazi Arabic, in Iran. He came to Australia by boat and spent 15 months in detention before being released into the community. 
After settling in Perth, he created a business called Persia’s Pantry. But his visa forced him to relocate to a regional centre, resulting in a move to Tasmania. After 11 years of fighting for his freedom, Arad was one of 19,000 refugees who received permanent residencies in 2023.

Dr Tamara Wood, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Tasmania
Dr Tamara Wood is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law. She researches in the fields of international refugee law, regional refugee law (with a focus on Africa), free movement agreements, complementary pathways to protection, and displacement in the context of natural hazards, disasters and climate change. She has published widely on refugee protection and forced migration, including in leading international law journals such as the International and Comparative Law Quarterly and the International Journal of Refugee Law. She has acted as a consultant and advisor to UNHCR, IOM, Platform on Disaster Displacement, Nansen Initiative on Disaster-Induced Cross-Border Displacement, Institute for Security Studies Africa and the World Bank. Dr Wood is a Senior Research Fellow at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW; a member of the Advisory Committee for the Platform on Disaster Displacement; founder and Steering Group member of the Climate Mobility Africa Research Network (CMARN), and member of the International Journal of Refugee Law Case Law Editorial Team. She lectures in international refugee law, regional refugee protection and Australian public law at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.