He’s the President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, directing humanitarian relief and refugee assistance across more than 40 crisis zones.
David Miliband, it’s fair to say, has his hands full right now.
"There are 60 active conflicts going on around the world at the moment. There's 120 million people who've fled their homes and are on the run from conflict and disaster at the moment. There are 240 million people in the world who depend on humanitarian agencies like ours to stay alive," said Miliband ahead of speaking at UCSB on Wednesday, as part of the Arts and Lectures Series.
"So the current world scene we would summarize as a new world disorder, not an order, but a disorder," he said.
"This new world is the product of obviously big changes in politics. We know there's also been a trampling on the rights of civilians in conflict, so conflict is now more likely to take the life of a civilian than of a soldier. And we also know that there's profiteering from war. All those three factors are contributing to the virulence that we're seeing in the conflict zones where we work."
Miliband has a stark warning about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — calling it a food security time-bomb.
"Everyone knows about gas prices in the U.S., but 30% of fertilizer for the world goes through the Straits of Hormuz, and there are farmers in West Africa who are dependent on that fertilizer for their yield. That's why we've called the closure of the Strait of Hormuz a food security time bomb," he said. "The Council on Foreign Relations called it a slow-motion famine machine," he added.
Rich countries cut aid spending by $174.3 billion in 2025, at a time when some of the most vulnerable countries are impacted not only by conflict but also by a climate crisis. A situation for which Miliband also had a warning.
"The places that are most likely to be in conflict are also those that are highly likely to be climate vulnerable. There's an overlap. So while the Ukraine war was not caused by the climate crisis, there is an overlap; the top 20 countries for humanitarian need as a result of conflict in the world, 15 of them are among the most climate vulnerable in the world, three-quarters of the world's refugees live in effectively poor countries rather than rich countries," he said. "When it comes to the richer countries, you bottle up problems if you don't support countries that are hosting large numbers of refugees."
Miliband started his career at the frontline of politics. He was widely seen as a future Prime Minister of the UK. He was part of Tony Blair’s cabinet and in June 2007 became one of the youngest people to hold the office of Foreign Secretary.
"People often ask me what's the difference between being in government and running an NGO, and the truth is you have much more power if you're in government than if you are in an NGO," he said.
"But you also have many more obstacles on using that power. Certainly, if you were a British politician, you have more obstacles on using the power. So there's more freedom, but less power. Politics can be bad. Politics can go wrong. Politics can reward the wrong people. But it's the way in which societies figure out how to govern themselves. And the alternatives to democratic politics in history are very unappealing," said Miliband.
Refreshingly, for a former politician, he answers questions directly. Including one he gets asked a lot — would he return to the political front line?
"I always answer [this question] in the same way, which is I will always make my professional choices according to where I think I can make the most difference, subject to being a good husband and a good dad. And so that's always the answer," said Miliband.
"And you can write that up as, 'won't rule it out', and we've been around that course many times. I've never been very good at career planning, so why rule things in and rule things out? I try to be guided by where I can make the most difference."
This son of refugees offers compelling perspectives on our shared responsibility in a turbulent world at Campbell Hall at 7.30 Wednesday, as part of the UCSB Arts and Lectures series.
