David Miliband

on global migration and refugees

President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee; former UK Foreign Secretary Fisher Family Fellow 2012-2013

The first decade of the Future of Diplomacy project has coincided with a more than doubling (to more than 80m) of the number of refugees and internally displaced. Diplomacy has been in retreat, and these are the human victims, alongside the growing number of civilians killed in conflict (now 70 per cent of the total fatalities). So, the first imperative is to reinvent diplomatic tools to defuse and if possible, pre-empt civil wars. We know of small-scale programs that work, and can describe institutionbuilding at national level. But there needs to be a new surge of diplomacy to fill the gaps. In the meantime, the world cannot afford to let humanitarian crises fester. They create political instability as well as monumental suffering. Refugee-hosting is a global public good. It needs to be treated as such. Richer countries need to do more, but all need to contribute. This is about self-interest as well as moral necessity. As always, questions of diplomacy and politics are intertwined.

What advice do you have for the next generation of diplomatic practitioners?

The great danger of high-level diplomacy is to forget the people. So, listen to the people, and talk to them, because private diplomacy only works when the public are onside.

Former State Department Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith speaks with students on September 17, 2014.