2023 Weerasinghe Lecture with Amali Tower
Weiser Hall, 10th Floor, Room 1010, 500 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Join us for Amali Tower’s keynote lecture: “Global Governance Frameworks are Out of Step with Climate Change and the Dynamics of Displacement.”
The first in a year-long Advocacy, Activism, & Storytelling series presented by CEW+.
- When: February 15 from 4-6pm
- Where: 10th Floor of Weiser Hall (Room 1010)
Keynote to be followed by a Q & A session (4-5pm) and meet & greet reception (5-6pm light refreshments provided).
Amali Tower, Founder & Executive Director of Climate Refugees
Amali Tower is the founder and executive director of Climate Refugees. She has extensive global experience in refugee protection, refugee resettlement and in forced migration and displacement contexts, having worked globally for numerous NGOs, the UN Refugee Agency and the US Refugee Admissions Program. Years of interviewing refugees fleeing conflict afforded her the chance to hear their stories of also fleeing climate change. Through this, Climate Refugees was born. She has conducted country and regional case studies and research in climate-induced displacement contexts, including in urban and camp settings. Her research on climate, conflict and displacement in the Lake Chad Basin in Africa’s Sahel was presented as evidence of loss and damage at COP 26 in Glasgow. Amali serves displaced populations as an experienced defender and her clients as a partner and advisor. She developed her work ethic, world views and deep commitment to forcibly displaced populations through a lived experience of instability, and as an immigrant and migrant. She’s born of that education, life in multiple countries, and also those at Columbia University, where she has a Master of International Affairs focused in Human Rights from the School of International and Public Affairs, and a BA in International Development Studies from UCLA. She resides in New York City.
This event is presented in partnership with U-M’s Barger Leadership Institute.
The Weerasinghe Lecture is named for Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe, who worked throughout her life to promote international understanding and communication. CEW+ thanks Emerita Leadership Council Member Menakka Bailey for making this fund possible in honor of her mother, Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe, a lifelong advocate of cross-cultural dialogue and advancement for women.