The Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme (FMSH) in Paris has selected Kawa Hassan, Director of Middle East and North Africa Regional Program at the EastWest Institute, to serve as co-project leader of a working group to support the "rights and protection of minorities in the Middle East”. This working group is part of a new initiative established by FMSH—the International Panel on Exiting Violence (IPEV).

"We take great pride in knowing that Kawa Hassan has been selected to head up this working group for the FMSH, a recognized interdisciplinary research institute,” said Dr. William J. Parker, COO of the East West Institute. "As a highly respected expert on the issue of countering extremism in the Middle East, Kawa will bring his unique knowledge, perspectives and management skills toward the benefit of this very important and timely effort.” 

Hassan will co-lead the group along with Orit Bashkin, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at Chicago University. Together, they will coordinate and supervise a group of global experts to assess existing obstacles to the rights and protection of minorities in the Middle East. This working group represents one of ten such groups of researchers and experts under the IPEV initiative.  

Over a near two-year period, the IPEV will gather an international community of outstanding scholars to examine the issues of violence and exiting violence, with a focus on the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Specific issues to be addressed include the aspects of failed states, new forms of authoritarianism, proliferation and the metamorphosis of jihadism in the Middle East, and the integration of migrants, presence of Islam and the crisis of political systems in Europe. Issues will be explored in-depth both at the local and regional levels, and by conducting comparative experience analyses of other regions, such as Latin America. This effort will conclude with the publication of a comprehensive report with policy recommendations intended for local, national, and international institutions, NGOs, policy makers and other stakeholders. 

The IPEV was established by the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme, with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Conseil Supérieur de la Formation et de la Recherche Stratégique (CSFRS, Paris) and the Dabran Foundation (Iraqi Kurdistan).