Sarah Khan

Community Fellow, Global Health and Humanitarianism

Community Scholar

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Sarah completed her Research LLM program at Osgoode Hall Law School in June 2025. She is now in the process of setting up an independent consultancy for advice, writing and research on protecting civilians in situations of severe violence. The consultancy will provide advice/insights on humanitarian, international law and political issues (global and national of context) vis-a-vis protecting civilians in violent settings.

Prior to returning to academia, Sarah worked for over 12 years with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a senior protection officer and senior cluster coordinator. In her work she supported the development of protection policies for UN/NGO humanitarian country teams; assisted governments with the development of legislation and policy related to internally displaced persons (IDP); designed capacity-building programs on international protection and displacement for armed actors and civil society; developed protection monitoring systems for response and advocacy; and coordinated UN/NGO actors on inter-agency protection platforms. Her last position was as head of office in Northern Somalia, she managed a multifaceted program for various displaced populations. 

She has also worked with Oxfam, CAFOD UK, and the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. At Pearson, she facilitated integrated training courses for NATO/ISAF and UN Mission senior commanders in Canada and Germany. 

Sarah’s has worked in multiple crisis contexts including, Afghanistan, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Syria. She has also worked at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva at the Global Protection Cluster covering various internal displacement situations, such as those in the Central African Republic, Colombia, Iraq, and the Philippines. 

In her time as a graduate scholar, Sarah completed two empirical based research projects. The first, titled: “ Canadian Armed Forces and the need for a protection of civilians policy” and is summarised in this Policy Options article. The second, a year plus long research project, titled, “Orthodox Displacement Framework and the Harm of Displacement: A Missing Habit of Prohibition in NATO’s Protection of Civilians Policy 2016”. This research on conflict displacement and gaps in law and policy was presented at a conference organised by Canadian Red Cross and York University and inputs were also provided to an experts consultation undertaken by University of Edinburgh’s Peace Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform. 

While at York University, Sarah commenced writing and speaking about Protection of Civilians for a wider non-specialist audience. She has written for the Deccan Herald newspaper on India’s growing arms trade and Protection of Civilians and on the India-Pakistan conflict and protecting civilians. She also joined a panel to discuss the Gaza Conflict through lens of international law, speaking to members of an India wide lawyers networks. 

In a previous opportunity with the Dahdaleh Institute, Sarah was a Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholar.

Research Keywords

Civilian Protection, International Law, Conflict 

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