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 runs an advisory and research consultancy on the law, policy and practice of protecting civilians and displaced populations 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. She supported the development of protection policies for UN/NGO humanitarian and country teams; assisted governments with the development of legislation and policy; designed capacity-building programs on international protection; developed protection monitoring systems for data collection, response and advocacy; and coordinated UN/NGO actors on inter-agency protection platforms; and contributed to global legal and operational doctrines. Her last position was as head of office in Somaliland, managing a multifaceted program of health/livelihoods/NFI & cash/education and protection services. 

She has also worked with Oxfam, CAFOD UK, and the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. At Pearson, she was a course facilitator for NATO/ISAF and UN Mission senior commanders, in Canada and Germany. 

Sarah has worked in crisis contexts in Africa Asia and Europe, including, Afghanistan, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia (and Yemen Situation), Sudan and Syria. She has also worked at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva at the Global Protection Cluster covering contexts such as, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories and Ukraine. 

Sarah was part of the first cohort of Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholars and in that period, she completed two empirical data based research projects. One, on “ The Canadian Armed Forces and need for a protection of civilians policy” summarised in this Policy Options article. Two on “The Orthodox Displacement Framework and the Harm of Displacement: A Missing Habit of Prohibition in NATO’s Protection of Civilians Policy 2016”. The latter formed the basis for a presentation at a Canadian Red Cross and York University conference; input to an experts consultation by University of Edinburgh’s Peace Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform;  and a blog for the Beyond Compliance Consortium. Aspects of both researches have been used for a forthcoming book chapter in “Battle for International Law: South-North perspectives on the Neoliberal Era (1975-2000)” by Oxford University Press.  

At York University, Sarah’s research and writing has expanded to include multiple aspects of protecting civilians beyond the harm of displacement, rooted in her extensive practice experience and academic rigour. She especially is driven by the need to inform non-specialist audiences based on the belief  that “we the people of the United Nations” must engage actively to uphold international law and protect civilians around the globe at this perilous time, when duty bearers are failing right holders. Familiar with the limited discourse on civilian protection in South Asia, she penned opinion pieces in newspapers on India’s growing arms trade, the India Pakistan conflict and accepted invitations to speak on protection of civilians to non-specialist audiences as graduate student. As a community fellow at the Dahdaleh Institute, she recently convened a cross-disciplinary panel discussion open to the public on the Gaza Conflict global impact on civilian protection doctrine.

Research Keywords

Civilian Protection, International Law, Conflict 

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