Director of U.S. Committee for Refugees to Present Lecture

Roger Winter, long-time director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR), will present a lecture, "Sudan: Solutions for a Society in Extremis" at Smith College on Thursday, April 1, at 4:30 p.m. in Seelye Hall 201. Since the early 1970s, USCR has been a leading voice on behalf of uprooted people in Sudan where civil war and drought causing severe famine have displaced 4 million people from southern and central portions of the country. Sudan has the highest number of refugees of any country in the world, according to USCR.

The USCR was founded in 1958 to coordinate United States participation in the United Nations' International Refugee Year (1959). In the 40 years since, USCR has worked for refugee protection and assistance in all regions of the world, defending the rights of all uprooted people regardless of their nationality, race, religion, ideology, or social group in such areas as Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.

Since Winter became USCR's executive director in 1981, he has traveled to more than 20 countries, investigating refugee emergencies and assessing the protection and assistance needs of displaced populations. Winter "is a really distinguished presence in the world of humanitarian agencies," says Smith English professor Eric Reeve, an organizer of the event, which will be free and open to the public and followed by a reception in Seelye 207.