Hardin Lang, Former UN Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Official, Joins Refugees International as Vice President for Programs and Policy

Washington, D.C. (December 12, 2017) – Refugees International (RI) President Eric Schwartz announced today that Hardin Lang has been appointed as the organization’s Vice President for Programs and Policy. In this newly created senior role at RI, Lang will lead the development and implementation of the organization’s fact-finding and advocacy efforts on behalf of refugees and displaced persons around the world.

“We are thrilled that Hardin Lang is joining Refugees International at a time when refugees and displaced persons face enormous challenges,” Schwartz said. “Hardin’s humanitarian, peacekeeping, international organization, and foreign policy experience will be an enormous asset as we continue our critical work supporting the rights of vulnerable populations globally.”

With 25 years of experience working in conflict zones and natural disasters, think-tanks and academia, Lang is a veteran of six United Nations peacekeeping and humanitarian field missions and has worked in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Myanmar, Central America, Gaza and West Bank, Iraq, Haiti, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkey, and West Africa.

Hardin helped launch the UN stabilization in Mali and managed UN peace and humanitarian operations in Afghanistan and Haiti. In Iraq, he served as chief of staff for the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) humanitarian and stabilization mission and later as an adviser to the UN special representative in Baghdad.  During his tenure at the United Nations, Hardin also served as head of the Office of the UN Special Envoy for the Haiti earthquake.

Hardin also worked for the United Nations in the Balkans, where he helped draft Kosovo’s first interim constitution and managed operations to safeguard ethnic minorities and assist displaced populations and returnees. Earlier in his career, he worked in Central America, serving as a human rights and refugee advocate before he went on to join the UN mission to Guatemala which was was charged with overseeing an end to that country’s civil war.

Hardin comes to Refugees International from the Center for American Progress (CAP) where he was a senior fellow specializing in Middle East conflicts and national security policy. Prior to CAP, he was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Hardin has published widely in the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, The National Interest, and the Economist Intelligence Unit. He has been interviewed on the BBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR and has given testimony before the U.S. Senate. 

Hardin holds a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, a master’s degree in international history with a focus on the Middle East from the London School of Economics, and a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College. 

Founded in 1979, Refugees International advocates for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises. We are an independent organization, and do not accept any government or UN funding. Each year, Refugees International conducts approximately twelve field missions to identify urgent needs among refugees and displaced populations, including for basic services such as food, water, healthcare, housing, access to education, and protection from harm. With our field-based knowledge of humanitarian emergencies, we successfully challenge policy makers and aid agencies to improve the lives of displaced people around the world.

For interviews with Refugees International Vice President for Programs and Policy Hardin Lang, please contact Gail Chalef, Senior Communications Officer, at (202) 540-7026 or at gail@refugeesinternational.org.