Political Insights: Refugee protection in turbulent times

Vicky Tennant and Chloe White will provide international, national and local perspectives on the current refugee situation.

This event has been co-organised with the United National Association (UNA) London and South-East Region, Blackheath and Greenwich branch.

Speaker information:

VICKY TENNANT is the UNHCR Representative to the United Kingdom. Educated at the University of Essex and Queen’s University, Belfast, she is a member of the English Bar. She has served with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees since 2000, in a range of positions at its Geneva headquarters and in field operations, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Myanmar.

Her most recent field assignment was in Syria, serving as Deputy Representative from September 2020 to June 2022. At UNHCR headquarters, she worked in a range of policy, evaluation, and emergency-related positions, and served as Special Assistant to the High Commissioner. Shas served with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees since 2000, in a range of positions at its Geneva headquarters and in field operations, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Myanmar. Her most recent field assignment was in Syria, serving as Deputy Representative from September 2020 to June 2022. At UNHCR headquarters, she worked in a range of policy, evaluation, and emergency-related positions, and served as Special Assistant to the High Commissioner.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country.

CHLOE WHITE is the recently appointed CEO of Action for Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL), previously overseeing the organisation's casework, legal and policy work as Deputy Director. Following her Law degree from The London School of Economics, Chloe started work for the British Red Cross Refugee Services. Her current work focuses on utilising casework and co-production to create systemic change, having led a strategic litigation against the Home Office, advising the Greater London Authority on Asylum Support matters, and sitting on the London Housing Panel where she chairs the Panel's work on improving Temporary Accommodation in the capital.

AFRIL is a dynamic and specialist local charity, established in 2006, supporting over 700 asylum seekers, refugees, and ‘vulnerablised’ migrants annually to lift themselves out of poverty, assert their rights, and rebuild their lives in Southeast London.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday 25th November 2025

Time: 18:15 for a 18:30 start

Room: University of Greenwich Queen Anne Building, Room 180

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Host or Publisher Institute for Inclusive Communities & Environments