PILnet is proud to share that two of our colleagues have been appointed to the Refugee Advisory Group to the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP): Yusra Herzi, PILnet’s Program Officer for Forced Displacement, begins her second year on the Advisory Group, and Salah Jawish, former PILnet Legal Fellow, joins as a new member. Both Yusra and Salah have recently migrated to Canada under the Sponsorship Pathway and will now bring their lived experience to shape the CRCP.
Established in 2020, the Refugee Advisory Group to the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP) provides a formal mechanism for refugee representatives to bring lived experience and professional expertise directly into the policy discussions shaping resettlement and complementary pathways, engaging alongside States, UNHCR, NGOs and other stakeholders. Decisions about resettlement and complementary pathways have direct consequences for refugees, yet refugees are too often invited into these conversations as participants rather than recognised as experts who should help shape the policies that affect their lives. The Group exists to change that.
Yusra Herzi: continuity into Canada’s chairmanship
Appointed as Refugee Advisor to the CRCP in September 2025, our Program Officer; Forced Displacement, Yusra Herzi enters the 2026–2027 cycle with a strong sense of why refugee participation matters. For her, being part of the CRCP is an opportunity to bring her legal expertise to the conversations shaping how resettlement and complementary pathways are designed and delivered for displaced and at-risk people. Over the past year, she has worked to strengthen the connection between refugee participation, legal expertise and practical implementation, bringing these perspectives into the group’s discussions and wider work.
Each year, the CRCP is chaired by a different country around the world. Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will carry this mantle for CRCP 2027. As a member of the Refugee Advisory Group, Yusra will work with fellow members to shape the CRCP 2027 agenda and support engagement with government stakeholders.
“My priority as Refugee Advisor to the CRCP for 2026 –2027 is to help close the implementation gap by advancing a more integrated role for the legal community across the full lifecycle of complementary pathways. This means positioning legal actors as core implementation partners, with a meaningful role in shaping, designing and delivering pathways, rather than engaging them only when legal issues arise.” – Yusra Herzi, PILnet’s Program Officer for Forced Displacement.
In addition to her work at PILnet managing the matching of nonprofits with pro bono assistance, Yusra has a depth of experience spanning labour law, refugee rights, and participation. She has contributed to the Working Group behind the Independent Declaration on the Right to Participate, worked at the intersection of labour law and refugee rights at Asylum Access Malaysia, and was an inaugural fellow with the University of Ottawa Refugee Hub and Pathways International, spending a year learning from and contributing to work informed by the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative,
Salah Jawish: Bringing refugee-led expertise to the CRCP
Salah joined PILnet as one of two inaugural Refugee Legal Fellows in 2023, as part of a partnership between PILnet and the Refugee-Led Research Hub (RLRH) at Oxford University to provide placements for refugee scholars and practitioners to learn and contribute to public interest law. During his time with PILnet, he led research on the legal needs of refugee-led organisations and co-authored a conference paper on ‘Access to Justice and Meaningful Refugee Participation’ alongside our Program Director for Forced Displacement, Jasmine Simperingham, and Global PILnet Board Member, Dr Awmaima Amryaf. Salah joined the Advisory Group as a new member, bringing over a decade of frontline work with refugee and displaced communities in Egypt, legal aid, protection, advocacy and community-led support. Salah is also co-founder and Deputy Chair of the Board of Tafawol Association for Special Needs and Development, a refugee-led organisation, and co-founder of the United Refugee Network in Egypt.
Drawing on both his professional and lived experience of displacement, Salah brings a community-led perspective to global discussions on resettlement, complementary pathways and durable solutions. His work is grounded in a commitment to access to justice and meaningful refugee participation, making his contribution to the Advisory Group particularly valuable in ensuring that refugee perspectives and expertise help shape discussions on pathways and solutions.
“My priority during my two-year tenure is to help bridge the gap between global discussions on pathways and the realities faced by refugees and refugee-led organizations on the ground. I hope to contribute to approaches that place refugee expertise and meaningful participation at the centre, while making resettlement and complementary pathways more accessible, equitable and responsive to the diverse needs of displaced communities.”- Salah Jawish, former PILnet Legal Fellow
Putting legal access on the agenda
Together, Yusra and Salah reflect a priority PILnet is championing, putting legal assistance, including the role of paralegals, squarely on the agenda in advocating for and securing pathways, both individually and systemically. A pathway on paper is only as good as the legal support that makes it real; PILnet will keep pressing for this to be reflected in the CRCP’s work this year and beyond.