The photo of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian refugee toddler washed up on a beach, became a tipping point for the refugee crisis and advocacy movement. This photo galvanized world opinion that there was a global and very basic human responsibility to refugees. Find out how this led to two UN Summits and the mobilization of global public empathy on behalf of refugees, by more importantly, why tipping points aren’t enough.

Elizabeth Ferris is a Research Professor with the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and also serves as a Non-resident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. From January-September 2016, she also served as Senior Advisor to the UN General Assembly’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx