Beyond the Headlines: David Miliband on conflict, climate and the aid gap

“Conflict, climate and the economic consequences of Covid-19 are feeding off each other in a vicious circle, with 54 conflicts, 100 million displaced people and 345 million people going to bed hungry every night."

This was the stark picture painted by president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, in this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines.

The National's editor in chief Mina Al-Oraibi spoke to Mr Miliband during his visit to Abu Dhabi to discuss concerns about the lack of adequate funding to support the most vulnerable, in addition to the impact that the Ukraine war will have not only on Ukrainians but people around the world directly and indirectly.

“I'm very concerned at the diversion of aid from the Middle East, from parts of Africa into Ukraine. Yes, the needs in Ukraine are real, but we can't have first class aid in Ukraine and second or third class aid elsewhere”, Mr Miliband said.

IRC works in 40 war-affected countries, in addition to refugee resettlement and assistance programmes in 28 cities in the United States. Mr Miliband said that the work of the IRC is largely led by staff from countries affected by humanitarian disasters, including in Afghanistan and Syria where they continue to work.