- Location
- Travel
- Hotel
- Program
- Participants
- Live Stream
- In-Person Registration
- The 2025 Nadia Rubaii Memorial Prize
Welcome to I-GMAP's 2025 International Forum, Frontiers of Prevention
Friday-Saturday, April 4 & 5, 2025
***In Person with Live Streaming***
Since 2017, Frontiers of Prevention, I-GMAP’s annual international forum, has brought academic researchers and prevention practitioners from governments, international organizations, and civil society to ’s Downtown Campus for two days of conversation, sharing notes and experiences, and forming new professional connections and networks.
Unlike more familiar academic conferences, Frontiers of Prevention has a workshop format. Over the meeting's two days, several extended thematic sessions, without formal presentations, allow participants and audience members to explore topics in depth, to make connections among different thematic panels, and to pursue collaborations and test new ideas.
Frontiers of Prevention includes the annual Nadia Rubaii Prize and Lecture, recognizing an atrocity prevention practitioner of exceptional courage, compassion, and dedication. Conference participants and guests are warmly invited to attend.
Frontiers of Prevention Location
Frontiers of Prevention takes place in the . This is the university's single-building campus in downtown , and is not to be confused with , which is located approximately five miles west of , NY.
UDC Address: 67 Washington St, , NY 13902
The conference will be live streamed for those who are not able to attend in person.
Travel to
Travel By Air:
The Greater Airport (BGM) is currently serviced by Delta and Avelo. Delta
offers daily flights to NYC for connections, but times and seats are very limited.If
you are planning to fly on Delta Airlines to , the trip via taxi or Uber/Lyft
from Greater Airport to the University Downtown Center and Conference Hotel
should cost around $30.00.You may also plan to fly into either Syracuse Airport (SYR)
or Ithaca Airport (ITH). Both of these have jet service from multiple airlines. Both
Syracuse and Ithaca airports are approximately one hour by car from .
Travel By Bus:
Shortline Bus Company and Greyhound offer regular bus service from New York City's
Port Authority Bus Terminal to . The travel time is approximately 3.5 hours.
Travel By Car:
Travel time by car from New York City or Philadelphia is approximately 3 hours; from
Boston approximately 4.5 hours, and from Washington D.C. approximately 5 hours.
Hotel
The official hotel for Frontiers of Prevention is the Holiday Inn, located in downtown :
Phone number: (+1) 607.722.1212
Address: 2-8 Hawley St, , New York 13901.
Please mention "Frontiers of Prevention" for the special conference rate.
Frontiers of Prevention Program
Friday, April 4
| 8:30 - 9:00am |
Registration and Breakfast |
| 9:00 - 9:30am |
Welcoming Remarks by President Harvey Stenger and Opening Remarks with Co-Directors Max Pensky and Kerry Whigham |
| 9:30 - 11:00am | On the Genocide and Mass Atrocity Frontier 2025: Opening Expert Discussion
|
| 11:00 - 11:30am | Break and refreshments |
| 11:30am - 1:00pm |
Catastrophe in Sudan: What Way Forward?
|
| 1:00 - 2:30pm | Lunch |
| 2:30 - 4:00pm |
Preventing Identity-Based Violence from the Ground Up
|
| 4:30 - 4:45 |
Music by Kai Mata Indonesian singer-songwriter Kai Mata is I-GMAP's Resident Practitioner and 2024-2025 Annual Engaged Artivist Award on Atrocity Prevention and Human Rights recipient for her advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights |
| 4:45 - 6:00pm |
Nadia Rubaii Memorial Lecture: Shared Grief, Shared Hope: Israelis and Palestinians for Peace
|
| 6:00 - 7:00pm | Reception with wine and appetizers |
Saturday, April 5
| 8:30 - 9:00am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 - 10:30am |
After the Ceasefire: Short- and Medium-Term Options for Protection and Accountability in Gaza
|
| 10:30 - 11:00am | Break and refreshments |
| 11:00am - 12:30pm |
Safer Havens: State-Civil Society Collaboration for Better Protection of Refugees in Kenya
|
| 12:30 - 2:00pm | Lunch |
| 2:00 - 3:30pm |
Atrocity Risk in the Second Trump Administration: Risks, Triggers, Responses
|
| 3:30 - 4:00pm | Break and refreshments |
| 4:00 - 5:30pm |
Education and Prevention
|
Participants
Quscondy Abdulshafi, Senior Regional Advisor, Freedom House
Abdulshafi worked for a decade in the East and Horn of Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Uganda, working on peacebuilding, youth leadership, and human rights advocacy. He was the founding staff of Sudan Democracy First Group (SDFG), a Sudanese advocacy and think tank organization in 20212 in Kampala, Uganda. Before, he was a Sudan Human Rights Monitoring Associate at the African Center for Peace and Justice Studies (ACJPS). He began his human rights and peace activism at Khartoum University in 2003, where he co-founded the Darfur Students Movement against the genocide in Darfur.
Abdulshafi holds dual masters in Sustainable International Development and Coexistence and Conflict Resolution at Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. He earned his BA in development studies at Kampala International University, Uganda, and his associate degree in philosophy from the University of Khartoum.
Niemat Ahmadi, Founder and President, Darfur Women Action Group
Ahmadi has a long track record working with international non-governmental organizations for over 23 years in various fields of emergency, development, and policy advocacy. Ahmadi previously worked as the Director of Global Partnerships for United to End Genocide and the Save Darfur Coalition in the US and with Oxfam Great Britain, Intermediate Technology Development Group (now known as Practical Action) and the United Nation’s World Food Programme in Sudan. She served as a gender advisor at the 7th round of Inter-Sudanese peace talks on Darfur in Abuja, Nigeria.
In 2008, Ahmadi was recognized by President George Bush as one of eight global human rights fighters of the year. Ms. Ahmadi earned a Master of Science in Sustainable Development and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Ahfad University for Women in Sudan.
Clara Ramírez-Barat, Director, Warren Educational Policies Program, Auschwitz Institute
Before joining AIPG, she was a Senior Research Associate at the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), where she was involved in a two-year research initiative on Transitional Justice, Education, and Peacebuilding, as well as youth-focused programs in Canada, the Ivory Coast, and Kenya.
At AIPG, Clara’s work has focused on developing the organization’s educational policies approach to prevention, leading projects in El Salvador, Brazil, and more recently, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is the editor of Beyond Outreach: Transitional Justice, Culture, and Society and the co-editor of Transitional Justice and Education: Learning Peace and Transitional Justice and Education: Engaging Young People in Peacebuilding and Reconciliation, as well as the author of numerous reports, articles, and book chapters.
Clara obtained her Ph.D. in 2007 at the University Carlos III of Madrid and holds an M.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University. She is currently based in Madrid, Spain.
Annie R. Bird, Instructor, Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and I-GMAP
Dr. Bird has over 20 years of experience in atrocities prevention and global peace and security. Previously, she was Senior Program Officer at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund and an instructor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. She also served as Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, and as a fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Center for the Prevention of Genocide. She’s had roles at the International Center for Transitional Justice, UNICEF, Benetech, and NGOs in East Timor, Argentina, and Senegal. Her book US Foreign Policy on Transitional Justice was published by Oxford University Press in 2015. She holds a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from UC Berkeley, an LL.M. in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex, and a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
David Campbell, Professor, CCPA Public Administration and Policy,
Dr. Campbell has devoted his career to research and practice in nonprofit organizations, both in the U.S. and internationally. Over the past 10 years he has focused on accountability and performance measurement as well as the role social media plays in nonprofit organizations. Through his involvement with I-GMAP, he has studied the role non-governmental organizations play in conflict prevention. He has collaborated with scholars at Koç University in Turkey to study philanthropy and giving in that country and is co-editor of the book Philanthropy in the Muslim World. He has held senior management positions in major nonprofit organizations in New York City and Cleveland.
Dr. Campbell founded the Philanthropy Incubator, which uses an experiential teaching model to encourage students to incorporate giving as a regular part of their lives. Since 2010, students in Philanthropy Incubator classes have distributed more than $200,000 to local organizations.
Juliana Cunha, Director, SaferNet Brazil
Cunha holds a degree in Psychology and a master's in Culture and Society from the Federal University of Bahia. She has 15 years of clinical experience with teenagers and young people, as well as being a lecturer in psychology and technology at the university. At SaferNet Brazil, she is Special Projects Director, focusing on youth empowerment and online safety, especially for women and vulnerable people. She has coordinated, among others, the SaferLab initiative, an innovation and creative Lab to support young creators to tackle hate speech on the Internet, through counter-narratives. She's also responsible for the Brazilian National Helpline for Online Safety, offering one-to-one conversations about privacy, sextortion, cyberbullying, freedom of speech and other Human Rights related issues. She also collaborates with Media Outlets and advertising bodies to create national and international Award-winning campaigns.
Federica D'Alessandra, British Academy Global Innovation Fellow with the Global Order and Institutions Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
An international law and public policy specialist, she regularly publishes and advises governmental and inter-state debates, including in relation to treaty negotiations and amendments. She also briefs government agencies in the United States and United Kingdom, as well as international organizations as relevant on strategic planning and policy implementation and has provided expert evidence to a number of UK parliamentary inquiries.
She joins the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from the University of Oxford, where she has been based at the Blavantnik School of Government since 2018, and currently serves as deputy director of the Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict (ELAC) and director of the Programme on International Peace and Security. Prior to joining Oxford, she held appointments at the Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School, including a fellowship at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.
Kenny Donaldson, Director, South East Fermanagh Foundation
Donaldson holds a BA Hons Degree in Journalism and Politics (via Leeds University) and a Diploma in Community Development Practice.
Donaldson has worked/volunteered within the victim/survivor sector for approximately 20 years, and has been SEFF's Director since 2008. In his role he oversees 36 staff, circa 45 further service providers, and 140+ volunteers delivering for a direct membership in excess of 2,000 but also contributing to wider community cohesion issues.
He is also Spokesman for Innocent Victims United (an umbrella organisation for 24 groups based across Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Great Britain).
Whilst Director, SEFF were granted the Queens Award for Voluntary Service, becoming the first victim and survivor support group to receive this award. In 2022 Kenny was also acknowledged in the late Queen Elizabeth II's New Years Honours, receiving an MBE for his work in support of victims and survivors.
Tibi Galis, Executive Director, Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities
Before joining AIPG in 2006, Dr. Galis worked as an Associate Researcher for the Parliament of the United Kingdom, helping develop the country’s position as the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. He also served as rapporteur for the Swedish government at the 2004 Stockholm International Forum on the Prevention of Genocide. Dr. Galis earned a Ph.D. from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University focusing on transitional justice. He also holds an M.A. in International Politics and Political Development from the University of Manchester and a B.A. in Law and Political Science from Babes-Bolyai University in Romania, his native country.
Abdullahi Boru Halakhe, Senior Advocate for East and Southern Africa, Refugees International
He is an African policy expert with over a decade of experience in security, conflict, human rights, refugee work, and strategic communications.
Halahke has regularly appeared in the media as an expert guest and analyst and has published some of his work, including on Al Jazeera, Reuters, BBC World Service, CNN International, Christian Science Monitor, The Guardian, The Independent, The German News Agency, New Zealand Public Radio, France 24, The Africa Report, African Arguments, and Think Africa Press. He has a book chapter on Kenya’s security agencies and the war in Somalia in the Oxford Handbook of Kenyan Politics.
He holds a master’s in International Security Policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).
Leila Hilal, Senior Fellow, International Security Program, New America
Hilal is the former director of the Middle East Task Force at New America. She focuses on Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and issues related to U.S. foreign policy, community-based change, constitution-making, and transitional justice in the broader Middle East and North Africa. Prior to joining New America Hilal served as Senior Policy Adviser to the Commissioner-General of the Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) and as a legal adviser to Palestinian negotiators from 2002-2008. She has led numerous research missions on human rights and post-conflict scenario building and transitional justice in the Middle East, including for Chatham House, the International Center for Transitional Justice and the Euro-Med Human Rights Network for Human Rights. Hilal clerked for Justice Yvonne Mokgoro at the South African Constitutional Court in 2000. She received her J.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and her LL.M. from Harvard Law School.
Alex Hinton, Chair on Genocide Prevention, UNESCO
Dr. Hinton is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, UNESCO Chair on Genocide Prevention, and also the award-winning author or editor of seventeen books, including, most recently, It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US (NYU, 2021), Anthropological Witness: Lessons from the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (Cornell, 2022) and Perpetrators: Encountering Humanity’s Dark Side (Stanford, 2023). Most recently, he received the 2022 American Anthropological Association’s Anthropology in the Media Award, a 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Network of Genocide Scholars, and a 2024-2025 H. F. Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award.
Sellah King'oro, Charles E. Schedit Postdoctoral Fellow, I-GMAP
Dr. King’oro is a conflict analyst, women, peace and security specialist, trainer, a lawyer. Previously, she served as the Senior Gender Advisor at the British Peace Support Team (Africa), where she built the capacity of Troop and Police Contributing Countries to deploy quality military and police personnel to UN/AU peace support operations in Africa. She contributed to reconciliation processes among communities in parts of East, Central, and West Africa as part of her mediation efforts.
Dr. King'oro also had a 12-year public service function as the head of the Research and Policy at the National Cohesion and Integration Commission in Kenya.
She holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from Kisii University and two post graduate diplomas from Bradford University, UK and Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
Jamin Kusuania, Senior Advocacy Manager, International Rescue Committee
Kusuania is a Forced Migrant Rights Specialist with a deep focus on policy, advocacy, and protection for displaced populations, particularly refugees and asylum seekers. He has over eight years of expertise in shaping migrant rights policies and promoting refugee inclusion. Kusuania's policy work includes advancing refugee inclusion at city, national, and regional level, and was a member of the task force that developed the Refugee Act of 2021. He is also a trainer on refugee rights, advocacy, and human trafficking, as well as a dedicated community mobilizer promoting social inclusion and advocating for refugee rights. He works with different stakeholders at city, national, and regional level to ensure inclusive policies and participation of displaced communities. With hands-on experience in both camp-based and urban refugee protection, Kusuania has worked extensively in the Dadaab refugee camp and Nairobi, spearheading protection mainstreaming efforts for marginalized groups.
Christer Mattsson, Professor, Norwegian University of Life Science
Dr. Mattsson is a professor at Norwegian University of Life Science since 2023, and also serves at the director at the Segerstedt Institute, University of Gothenburg. Dr. Mattsson’s research focuses on radicalization, violent extremism, neo-Nazism, racism and antisemitism. The research often relates to education aspects, i.e. how education can prevent extremism and foster democracy. Currently Mattsson is researching identity processes among second and third generation Holocaust survivors with a concealed Jewish identity as well as educational efforts to prevent and combat antisemitism.
Hardy Merriman, President, international Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
For over 20 years he has worked in the field of civil resistance—presenting, writing, leading workshops, grantmaking, and developing programs that support nonviolent movements advancing human rights, freedom, and justice around the world. Recent publications include Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence (2024), Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave: A Playbook for Countering the Authoritarian Threat (2023), We Need People Power to Address a World in Peril (2023), and Hold the Line: A Guide to Defending Democracy (2020).
Elena Monicelli, Coordinator, Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole
Monicelli has been Coordinator in Bologna, Italy, since 2009, having joined the School as a Senior Officer in 2004. As Coordinator, Monicelli develops educational workshops and conducts historical research on the link between memory and citizenship education, memory and post-conflict reconciliation, and memory and public political discourses. She also coordinates the School’s finances, fundraising, research projects, and other activities. In addition, Monicelli is a founding member of the “International Coalition of Sites of Conscience – Europe”. Able to easily relate with people of different ages, from different social and cultural backgrounds thanks to the experience collected in international projects, she commits in communicating in an effective and direct way, in active listening and bonding with people thanks to the training in mediation and non violent transformation of conflict.
Bridget Moix, General Secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
Dr. Moix has worked for 30 years on issues of international peace and security, with a focus on US foreign policy, locally-led peacebuilding, and atrocities prevention. She currently leads the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker organization in Washington, DC that works with a nationwide network of community-based advocates to lobby Congress for a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. She has also worked inside government, serving as an Atrocities Prevention Fellow with USAID. She served as US Representative and Executive Director of Peace Direct US and now serves as US Board Chair for Peace Direct. She has also worked at the UN level.
She holds a PhD from George Mason's Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Dr. Moix has taught courses on peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and Quaker studies at a number of institutions.
Anne Nthua Njeru, Principal Registration Officer, Department of Refugee Services
Njeru has more than 20 years of experience in the registration of persons. As an expert in this field, Njeru registers Kenyan citizens and also refugees. She joined the public service in 1997 at the National Registration Bureau, a government department mandated to register and keep records of all registered persons aged 18 and above regardless of their status, and served until 2007. She then transferred to the Department of Refugee Services where she served in different capacities. Currently, she coordinates Registration and Refugee Status Determination.
Njeru has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Conflict and Peace Studies from the University of Nairobi.
Nancy Okail, President and CEO, Center for International Policy
Dr. Okail is a leading scholar, policy analyst, and advocate with more than 20 years of experience working on issues of human rights, democracy, and security in the Middle East and North Africa region.
In 2020, Dr. Okail was appointed as a visiting scholar at the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford University. Prior to joining Stanford, she served as Executive Director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), which under her leadership became an internationally renowned policy research organization.
Before coming to the United States, Dr. Okail worked on, managed, and evaluated foreign aid programs for several international organizations, including the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.
Dr. Okail holds a Ph.D. from the University of Sussex in the UK. Her policy analysis and political commentary have been featured in top media outlets.
Jescah Otieno, Principal Research Officer, National Cohesion and Integration Commission
Otieno is a Global Peace Ambassador, social researcher, an educator, mediator and communication expert who has contributed in peacebuilding and peacemaking in Kenya for over 10 years. Currently, she is serving as a Principal Research Officer at the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, under the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government in Kenya. In this role, she oversees the promotion of societal cohesion through research, knowledge management and policy development towards the realization of increased equality of opportunities, inclusion and dignity of all Kenyans. Otieno is the co-founder of Amani Women Network, an organization established to enhance women’s roles in sustainable peace and development in Kenya. An African Civic Engagement 2021 Fellow, Otieno is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Communication Studies from Moi University, Kenya.
Masa Soko, Regional Manager for Metro Museums in the Western Cape, Department of Cultural Affairs and Sports
Soko currently oversees six museums as the Regional Manager for Metro Museums. She served as a heritage ambassador for the District Six Museum and Lwandle Museum in 2007, later joining the Lwandle Museum’s board of directors, before being appointed the manager in 2015. She was head researcher for the Siyanyanzela exhibition focusing on forced removals in Lwandle, as well as head researcher for a workplace stories exhibition focusing on current and past experience of workers in their different work environments. She studied at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) earning a BA in History, and has also earned a Post Graduate Diploma in Museum and Heritage studies.
She completed an honors degree at UCT in 2022 for African Languages and Literature focusing on research in Communication models used by migrant workers in Lwandle between 1960 and 1985.
Dan Sullivan, Director for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, Refugees International
Sullivan focuses on Myanmar, Sudan, South Sudan, and other areas affected by mass displacement. Prior to joining Refugees International, Sullivan worked for five years with United to End Genocide (formerly Save Darfur), first as a senior policy analyst then as director of policy and government relations, leading strategic planning, report writing, and development of policy recommendations on Myanmar, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and prevention of genocide and mass atrocities.
He has more than 15 years of human rights and foreign policy experience having worked for the Brookings Institution, Human Rights First, and the Albright Stonebridge Group, where he assisted former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in her role as co-chair of the Genocide Prevention Task Force. Dan has a Master’s degree in International Conflict Management from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Harvard University.
Sarah Leah Whitson Executive Director, DAWN
Previously, she served as executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division, overseeing the work of the division in 19 countries.
Whitson has led dozens of missions throughout the region, focusing on issues of armed conflict, accountability, legal reform, migrant workers, and human rights. She’s published widely on human rights and foreign policy in the Middle East in international and regional media.
She appears regularly on Al-Jazeera, BBC, NPR, MSNBC, and CNN. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School.
Whitson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is on the boards of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, Artistic Freedom Initiative, Freedom Forward, ALQST for Human Rights, Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, Action for Hope and the Armenian Bar Association.
Nicole Widdersheim, Deputy Washington Director, Human Rights Watch
Widdersheim recently was the Senior Policy Advisor for the Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Prior, she was the Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council covering the Sudans and Central Africa. Before that, she was the Atrocity Prevention Focal Point and Senior Human Rights Advisor at USAID. Widdersheim has served as USAID Office of Transition Initiative Country Representative in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, and Haiti. She was with USAID in Sudan as a Protection Officer to combat violence against women and develop policy on the genocide.
Outside of government, she was Head of Office for Oxfam International and has worked at IRC in Washington and South Sudan. She has a M.A. in Human Rights and Political Theory from University of Essex and BA in International Relations and African Studies from Kent State University, with study at University of Nairobi.
Isabelle Frances-Wright, Director of Technology and Society, Institute for Strategic Dialogue US
Isabelle’s work focuses on the impacts of current and emerging technologies on civic discourse and the online information ecosystem. Previously, Isabelle was the Global Head of Election and Civic Integrity Policy at TikTok, where she led the development of policies to combat election misinformation, coordinated inauthentic behavior and synthetic media. She also built and led the company's operation centers for rapid response for both elections and high-risk civic events. Prior to that, Isabelle served as Digital and Technology Director at The Messina Group, led by President Obama's former campaign director Jim Messina, where she worked on electoral, legislative and advocacy campaigns both domestically and internationally. Her work has been recognized and featured by leading media outlets. An active member of Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media, Isabelle also lends her expertise to the national advisory board of election integrity nonprofit Keep Our Republic.
Live Stream
While this year's conference will be held as an in-person event, we will be offering a livestream option as we welcome our expanding global audience. All times displayed will be in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
In-Person Registration
Frontiers of Prevention is free to attend, and will be held as an in-person event, with an option for streaming for our international audience. If you will be able to attend the event in-person, please register by clicking the registration button below. REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN.
The 2025 Nadia Rubaii Memorial Prize
Every April in conjunction with Frontiers of Prevention, I-GMAP holds the annual Nadia Rubaii Memorial Prize and Lecture, in memory of our late founding director. We bring in an internationally visible figure in the global struggle for rights, dignity and justice, whose courage and compassion exemplify Nadia's work and character.
For the 2025 prize, I-GMAP and are honored to recognize the Parent Circle-Families Forum.
The Parents Circle - Families Forum (PCFF) is a joint Israeli-Palestinian nonprofit organization of over 700 families who have lost children and other close family members in the long conflict and occupation. PCFF believes that sustainable peace is possible, and aims to promote dialogue, tolerance, reconciliation and peace. The Netanyahu administration, hostile to any organized efforts that bring Israeli and Palestinians into productive dialogue, has tried its utmost to stop PCFF from operating, including a ban on its activities in all schools - one of its key programs - with the justification that the group "slanders the Israeli Defense Forces."
We are honored to welcome two representatives from PCFF, Robi Damelin (Israel) and Sima Mohammed Awad (Occupied Territories). Both Robi and Sima have lost close family members to violence: Robi's son David, a graduate student and peace activist, was killed by a Palestinian sniper during his mandatory service in the IDF. Sima's brother passed away after sustaining injuries in January 2008.
We hope you can join us for the public ceremony where Robi and Sima will receive the 2025 Nadia Rubaii Memorial Prize on behalf of the Parents Circle-Families Forum, and deliver an acceptance speech. The event takes place on Friday April 4, at 4:00 PM at the University Downtown Center. It is free and open to the public, and no registration is required.