Students to lead UN event in New York

Two students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) will make an address at the United Nations in New York as part of a global campaign to help refugees.

Hamdallat Abdulsalam and George Coyle will join Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard in making presentations as part of a Tuesday Chat Series, a monthly initiative undertaken by the NGO Relations office in the United Nations Department of Public Information. Hamdallat and George will focus on developing a positive attitude to migration.

It follows a summit led by DMU at the UN’s New York headquarters in January, where hundreds of DMU students debated how universities can do more to assist refugees and migrants.

As part of the #JoinTogether campaign, DMU has been asked by the UN to take a lead in engaging universities across the world to find ways of successfully integrating refugees into communities, while spreading messages of tolerance and understanding. Eleven universities from around the world have already joined the campaign as partner institutions.

The Tuesday Chat Series event will take place on 27 February and will be moderated by Professor Shellard with contributions from students Hamdallat and George, who completed work placements at the UN in January.

Nearly two dozen other DMU students will visit New York for a #DMUglobal visit and will attend the event as part of a packed itinerary, which also includes volunteering at a refugee resettlement centre and supporting volunteers at St Mary’s Episcopal Church.

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The event provides a platform for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to engage in an informal discussion about the vital issue of migration and further strengthens DMU’s commitment to helping refugees around the world.

Professor Shellard said: “The world is currently witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. This crisis affects people from all over the world and it’s one seldom heard through our mainstream media. 

“But we can do something about this. At DMU, we have shown that universities can make a real difference to the lives of refugees in Leicester and elsewhere and, along with the United Nations’ Together initiative and our partner universities, we are now taking that message out to the world.  

“Tapping into our students’ passion, enthusiasm and determination to bring about change is critical to this work and I’m looking forward to hearing their ideas about how we can address this enormous challenge.”