This program is part of the Asia Society Policy Institute's (ASPI) series entitled “Coronavirus, Asia, and the World.” ASPI presents web-only programs twice weekly to analyze the scope of the ramifications from the novel coronavirus across the Asia-Pacific region and the world. All events will be live-streamed on YouTube and Facebook. For information about future events in this series and for ASPI’s additional coronavirus content see here.

The novel coronavirus has wreaked havoc throughout the world. Industrialized economies with world-renowned health systems have struggled with hundreds of thousands of cases of COVID-19, tens of thousands of deaths, and significant economic disruption. But what has been, and what could be, the experience of extremely vulnerable populations who are already in precarious situations — those in fragile states throughout the world, in war zones such as Syria and Yemen, and in refugee camps such as the Rohingya in Bangladesh? How can unprepared and under-resourced health systems respond? How can the international community coordinate a humanitarian response to help attend to the health crisis, as well as the ensuing impacts on already frail communities facing challenging political, economic, and security situations?

To explore these urgent questions and more, International Rescue Committee President and CEO the Rt. Hon. David Miliband and former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator the Rt. Hon. Baroness Valerie Amos will join ASPI President the Hon. Kevin Rudd in conversation.

SPEAKERS

Valerie Amos is Director of SOAS University of London, having joined in September 2015. From 2010, she served as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations. She served in a number of roles in the public sector including in local government and as Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission. She was an adviser to the Mandela Government on leadership, change, management, and strategy issues between 1994 and 1998. She was appointed a Labour Life Peer in 1997 and became a member of the UK Government in 1998. She was a Foreign Office Minister, Secretary of State for International Development, Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. She also served as UK High Commissioner to Australia before joining the UN. In June 2016, she was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

David Miliband is the President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. He oversees the agency’s relief and development operations in over 30 countries, its refugee resettlement and assistance programs throughout the United States and the IRC’s advocacy efforts in Washington and other capitals on behalf of the world’s most vulnerable people. He has had a distinguished political career in the United Kingdom. From 2007 to 2010, he served as the youngest Foreign Secretary in three decades, driving advancements in human rights and representing the United Kingdom throughout the world. In 2016 he was named one of the World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine and in 2018 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the author of the book, Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time. As the son of refugees, he brings a personal commitment to the IRC's work.

The Hon. Kevin Rudd is inaugural President of the Asia Society Policy Institute. He served as 26th Prime Minister of Australia (2007 to 2010, 2013) and as Foreign Minister (2010 to 2012). He is Chair of the Board of the International Peace Institute in New York, and Chair of Sanitation and Water for All, a global partnership of government and non-government organizations dedicated to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6. He is a Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House and the Paulson Institute, and a Distinguished Statesman with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is a member of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization’s Group of Eminent Persons, and also is on IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva's new external advisory group.