New Haven, Connecticut, USA (us.gov.krd) – The organization Justice for Kurds and the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs hosted a high-level conference at Yale University titled “The Kurds in Crisis” to discuss issues facing Kurdish people throughout the Middle East.

Minister Karim Sinjari, who serves as the Chief of Staff to President Nechirvan Barzani, and KRG Representative to the United States Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman were both guests at the event. Minister Sinjari delivered a keynote address, and Representative Abdul Rahman sat on a panel discussion about KRG-US relations. The conference operated under Chatham House rules.

Other speakers at the conference included Justice for Kurds founders Tom Kaplan and Bernard-Henri Levy; retired Army General and former CIA Director David Petraeus; former US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Brett McGurk; retired UK General Sir Graeme Lamb; former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Representative for Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan Staffan de Mistura, retired US Ambassadors Ryan Crocker and Robert Ford, and other highly distinguished experts and retired government officials.

The conference opened by the Jackson Institute’s Deputy Director for Leadership Programs Ted Wittenstein and Senior Fellow Emma Sky.

The culmination of the event was a screening of the film “Sisters in Arms”, a fictionalized story about a female international Peshmerga unit fighting in the war against ISI, followed by a question-and-answer session with the film’s director Caroline Fourest.

Justice for Kurds is a New York-based organization advocating for the Kurdish people. In addition to this conference, they run a program from young “ambassadors” for the Kurdish cause. They recently co-sponsored the Middle East Institute’s Kurdish art exhibition alongside the KRG Representation in Washington.