To this Public Affairs program. We are extremely honored to have as our guest today, David Miliband. David is the president and ceo of the International Rescue committee. He oversees both agencies humanitarian relief operations and the Refugee Resettlement and Assistance Program in several american cities. I know that the name David Miliband resonates with most of our audience. But those that want to learn more about our guest, please take a moment and read what was handed out to you this morning. Today he will be discussing one of the biggest issues, refugees. In his recent book entitled rescue. It is he says, about chadwick while the refugee crisis may no longer be front page news, make no mistake, it is ongoing and global. While the followup from years of civil war top system list this is only part of the refugee issue. They are being afghanistan and somalia, and doris can be on here seeking shelter and wondering how they will survive. Swhile they have always been refugees, those who are forced from their home whether escaping war, persecution or natural disasters, there seems to be Something Different about what is happening now. In becoming not only an enormous humanitarian crisis, but a political challenge, it leaves a very important moral question about who we are and what we stand for. Issues that the Carnegie Council cares about. And since her widespread refugee crisis. He tells us what it means to be refugee. Why we should care and how we can make a difference. Taking us from the war zone to the middle east to the peaceful suburbs of america. He explains a crisis and shows what scan be done not just by government but that policy and citizens with the urge to change life. What it comes down to is simply this. A fight to hold the best of human nature and rhetoric and policy. As he says, refugees, we betray our history, and interest. Plays drumming and helping a local mall very distinguished guests. [applause] thank you very much and good morning everyone it is a privilege to be here at the council today. The ethics and International Affairs at 8 15 am is quite a challenging menu. Of course the first thing i want to be clear is that the people are in the second row are in no way secondclass citizens. And those in the overflow room are not there class citizens. But those in the room, someone is keeping an eye to initiate a falsely believe. So the eye is on you even though we cannot see you physically. I want to first divorce thanks to you and the council for letting the company. This is one of the purposes of writing this book is to take the refugee crisis out of a selfselected world of humanitarian experts and dealing with refugees and occasionally on the front page into wider conversations. Because one of my diagnoses of this crisis is that the world refugees are victim of a complacency. That somehow, more and practice have been established and they were properly looked after. They were almost put into another power of the mind. One reason for writing the book was to come and ehave breakfast to talk about the nature of the modern refugee crisis. Which in some ways, they are hallmarks of previous but also distinctive characteristics. To try and engage people who have a wider interest to see that this is an issue of global displacement. People forced from their homes by conflict and persecution. It is deeply connected to the fate of the global system overall. And so, the fact that here, at the council, theyre interested in values and ethics and norms. It also interested in national affairs. That is the nexus i tried to discuss in the book. What i thought i would do is talk for about 20 minutes or so and then invite as many questions as possible. Just talk about four things really. First of all, what is the refugee crisis today . Secondly, what only, what can be done about it . And forth, what do we all have to do about it other than purchase the book which is very important. Being british, and extremely leery of anything that might be seen as selfpromotion but having been here for four years i realize that the selfpromotion is the name of the game and the, i can tell you that every copy that by, gives or leads to a 2025 donations to the International Rescue committee. So any of you would think that you are purchasing one copy i have news for you. You will be going away with 10 and 20 as a result. Want to go through those, what is the crisis, why should we care, look what we do . Let me start with the facts. 65 Million People displaced from their homes by conflict or persecution in the world. Not heeconomic migrants, people are leaving there, choosing to leave the home and the country in order to seek economic betterment. There are about 250 million of them. The 65 Million People are homeless because of work persecution. Of that 65 million, 40 million are still within their own home country. They are what is called internally displaced. So 7 million syrians are being bombed or driven out of their homes but are still living within syria. In northeast nigeria, 2 Million People have been displaced from their homes by poker her own and are still within nigeria. 14 million internally displaced. About 25 million are refugees. Boca but, just keeping you the 25 Million People over the 65 million are people who have been driven from their homes by persecution and they have done into a neighboring country. And the definition of a refugee is someone that has a wellfounded fear of persecution. In other words they do not feel safe to go home and is not safe to go home. If you, one danger of this crisis, one idea behind the book is that 65 million feels like dehumanizing number. It is almost so big that it cannot be comprehend. There is one in every hundred and 10 people on the planet. So it is a population, it would be the 23rd largest in the world if it were a country. The characteristics of these people i think are important to understand. Half of the people are under the age of 18. Half of the world refugees are children. They will come back will come back to what that means for Refugee Resettlement. If you think about the debate of refugees arriving in the us, 47 percent of those i have been allowed to come to the us after the kids. But one of characteristics that they are children. The second characteristic is very important about the displaced population. There displaced for a long time. Many of us, my own family their people and stream of family heritage of displacement during the Second World War displacement was for a limited period of time. Those who survived, my mother was a refugee from poland in 1945. My father was a refugee from belgium in 1940. Today, the average length of displacement is 10 years. And once youve been refugee for five years, the average goes up to 21 years. So essentially, we are talking about not just a large scale of displacement. 65 Million People, 25 million refugees. We are also talking about longterm displacement. The third characteristic i think is incredibly important. Half of the kids, tenure average displacement, 60 percent of refugees live in urban areas. Not in camps. If i had 10 every time i am asked, do you work in a camp . I would be a rich man. The truth is that, most refugees are not in camps. 60 percent are in urban areas. So the challenge for them is different than in a camp. You would be pretty much guaranteed food in a camp and if you will realistically get healthcare. In an urban setting, youre not guaranteed that food or the health care. We have an urban displaced population as well as a young displaced population as well as a longterm displaced population. And theres another book to written. Maybe we will come back to questions but i want you to have in your mind, that there are about 20 to 25 week states around the world that do not have the political otsystems th can contain religious and ethnic and political differences. As recently in the news and for 100,000 people were driven out of the country in nine weeks. The political system did not give citizenship did not recognize him properly and they torched villages. They have got 20 or 25 that do not share power are not able to share power effectively. Secondly a week and divided International Political system. This is the International Affairs part of the story and the background. The International Political system is weak and more divided. In some ways weaker than world war ii. Thirdly and very difficult to talk about but it is honest not to mention, Albert Einstein 25 percent of the beneficiaries are muslims. A large part of the refugee crisis is located in muslim majority countries. Syria, afghanistan, those are two prime examples. And the south sudan has refugees and has nothing to do with islam. But the fact that there is this electric, explosive debate within the islamic world, that in my district here, it puts pluralism against purification. Essentially, radical selloff a debate within islam. That is producing these large numbers of people with that degree producing none of these are shortterm trends. This is divided international system, a huge debate within the islamic world about the future and how engaged with the rest of the world. There is a longterm trend, and so, what we are dealing with i argue in the book is something that will basically go on for the rest of my days. A longterm crisis. Not something that will go away. Then the second question becomes, why should we care . And an obvious reason is that i was brought up roto believe tha you are someone need and you are able to have them in your dont, it is a crime. There is a moral court to this that i do not think is something to be ashamed of. We no longer have the excuse that the crisis is something we dont know about. Even in the 1990s. People said about the debate in yugoslavia i am not sure was really happening, i dont know. Even in 25 years. I mean certainly, if you think back to some of the refugee crisis in the 70s. Ignorance was used as a excuse. In the mind. There are the 30s. Today we do not have the excuse. We actually know the circumstances of people in south sudan and aleppo, and is a choice about whether or not we as part of the richer western world, define giving anything. Then there was a moral choice. We have our own problems at home, Charity Begins at home. My point to athem is that charity does not end at home. And that is the central moral choice that i think you have got to address. And it is putting stark relief when you learned that a country like uganda, where the average income is 962 per year. Per person. It has taken a million refugees. Over the last year. When i went to uganda in june, i went to south sudan for a nutrition program. Then i went to see how they were handling the refugees. I went to the deputy chairman of the local counsel in northern uganda. Which is receiving all of these. So he is elected politician. And i said to him, what you think about this refugee crisis . show will you deal with it . He said i will tell you one thing. I am not building a wall. [laughter] and so, that, this is the age of globalization. I mean he knew about, this debate, your debate. The american debate had reached their deputy chairman of the council in northern uganda. So there is a moral dimension but one of the things that bring out in the book that i think is really important is that humanitarians cannot rely only on an argument about being hard. Initials making hardheaded of them is a big part. And i think that the strategic argument for exercising responsibility. I am not ashamed to talk about the west. I think that west is made big mistakes. With the origins of the west is a wonderful phrase reject quote from Jessica Fisher who was the german prime minister. Some of you may be even spoke here when he was prime minister. He is a marvelous phrase about the Atlantic Charter signed by churchill and roosevelt in 1941 in newfoundland. A fourmonth time between the us entered the war. What they spent the time talking about was not just the conduct of the war. The Atlantic Charter was about the framing of a postwar peace. And churchill was forced to swallow the harsh medicine that empires would have to give independence to their colonies. So selfdetermination was an important part of this. Rule of law, social justice, international cooperation. And what Jessica Fisher says was that he was the birth of the west. A beautiful notion really. My argument is that there are historic reasons as well as strategic reasons and National Security reasons for believing that tackling the refugee crisis is in our interest not just the right thing to do. If we trash our own history by trashing the refugees eventually trash on history and it is dangerous for our understanding. There is a strategic argument that in the modern world in the Global Village of someone elses house is on fire then your house is on fire. And i live and work in new york. But if you are you know that this crisis doesnt stay in syria in the middle east it washed up on europes shore. But there is also a National Security argument. This is about the National Security case for america exercise responsibilities appropriately and respectfully. And we had a discussion about how there is nothing more powerful for the recruiting sergeants of isis than to be told that the us has not got the back of oppressed muslims around the world. And it is shocking but true that the isis asocial Media Channels literally were celebrating when the president put out the executive order stopping refugees coming from the us. So there is an ideological National Security argument. It is true that isis has been vanquished where we have operations that have been vanquished in parts of iraq. I will tell you in some ways it is on the back but this is a generational and ideological challenge. Not just a shortterm military challenge. So i think that is strategic arguments as well as moral arguments dealing with this crisis. You might agree that this is a big crisis and we should do something but hathen there is nothing that can be done. And my tasty was that we have to change the way humanitarians work in fundamental ways if we are to do justice to the length of displacement and length of this placement perfectly. Hospice care and hope that they are in the vortex of this and united henations which is part the middle of this. And the nationstates are retreating and international system. But i am very clear that a mess we reframe our approach to humanitarian endeavor will fail. This is about fundamentally taking on the fiction that this is a shortterm crisis. The fiction is helpful for hosting g countries. I do not want to name names but uganda, jordan, etc. It is quite convenient that they can say look at these people eager for a short time. We need shelter for our brothers and sisters in the short term. Truth is, the refugees will stay for less than sone percent of the worlds refugees went home last year. But the fiction is also convenient for the west. It allows him to say we will give you shortterm to keep these people alive. And essentially, we are 750 million organization. We are trying to tackle longterm problems of violence against women, unemployment, ill health. And shortterm grants. Which is crazy. It is changing the mindset. I think four things are really important to change in mindset. One, which is say the expectation is adult refugees are able if you are displacement average of 10 years you need to be able to work. That is only going to be possible if countries k. Like jordan that of supporting or hosting refugees are given massive economic support. Jordan has pegged to the dollar. They have an imf program for they have debt that has gone up from 54 percent to 96 percent of national income. And they have got 650,000 registered refugees. So they made a different time of the world bank, international and and at the moment they shortterm a. And they say, i have 33 percent unemployment among jordanians. If im going to let refugees work i need to ensure that my own population gets proper will help. And the truth is if you say it refugees are not to work it does not mean that they work officially. It will drive them underground and it is a safety protection benefit as well as economic benefit. They become taxpayers. So there is an employment chance. Technically, the saddest statistics that some ive discovered in the last four years, is that half of all refugees are children and less than two percent of humanitarian budget goes on education. Less than two percent total scandal so incredibly stupid. Treasure 50,000 series in lebanon that have never had education since they left syria. It is a moral scandal, it is strategic. We have to take on the idea that education is a luxury. Not a lifeline. But first and parents will say to you after they tell the relatives they are alive when they land in europe is, where do i get education for my kids . Can we have a very exciting week coming up. We partner with sesame street which some of you may have heard of. And we are in the running to win 100 million prize from the Macarthur Foundation on do12 december that would address Early Childhood trauma among refugee children in the middle east. A lot of these people you know we have to build schools get a lot of these kids, theyre not in a mindset when theyre ready to go to school. The toxic stress, the brain trauma of displacement, they need really early social economic intervention and support and this would be the largest Early ChildhoodDevelopment Program ever in a humanitarian refugee or we have to think that avthe education i completely different. Third, maybe surprising, of this. What is the thing that refugees lack the most . Cash, money. If youre searing refugee they do not have access to a searing bank account. We can come back to the q