Inspirational British Statesman to Discuss Global Refugees Crisis

Sep 9, 2016

David Miliband, former United Kingdom foreign secretary, will present this year’s Honorable T. Linus Hoban Memorial Lecture, titled “The Global Refugee Crisis: Time for New Thinking.” The University of Scranton’s Schemel Forum and its Office of Community and Government Relations, in collaboration with the Lackawanna Bar Association, will present the lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center on campus. The public is invited to attend the lecture free of charge.

Miliband is currently the president and chief executive of International Rescue Committee (IRC), the New York-based non-profit humanitarian organization that benefits people in 40 countries whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster. The IRC provides healthcare, learning and economic support, with many special programs designed for women and children. The organization resettles 13,000 refugees in 29 U.S. cities annually.

The UK’s foreign secretary from 2007 to 2010, Miliband was responsible for a global network of 16,000 diplomats in more than 160 countries. He established a distinctive and respected voice for an internationalist Britain, from the war in Afghanistan to the Iranian nuclear program to engagement with the world’s emerging powers.

Miliband first came to prominence as the policy director for Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1994 to 2001. As minister for schools from 2002 to 2004, he was regarded as a leader of reform. As secretary of state for the environment, he pioneered the world’s first legally binding emissions reductions bill. As minister for communities and local government, he championed the renaissance of Britain’s great cities.

Miliband set up “Movement for Change,” which trained 10,000 community organizers in the UK to make changes in their own communities. He was also vice chairman of Sunderland Football Club until 2013. He has taught at MIT and at Stanford University, debating important geo-political issues. Along with president Jose Maria Figueres of Costa Rica, Miliband was co-chair of the Global Ocean Commission, which identifies the main threats to the high seas and develops recommendations for addressing them.

Since its inception in 1978, the Hoban Lecture has hosted prominent world figures including U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist; Hans Blix, Ph.D., former chairman of the International Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction; Alexander M. Haig Jr., former U.S. Secretary of State and supreme allied commander of NATO; Helmut Schmidt, former chancellor of West Germany; Edward Heath, former prime minister of the United Kingdom; the late Yitzak Rabin, former prime minister of Israel; and Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent, and her husband James Rubin, President Clinton’s assistant secretary of state for public affairs. The most recent Hoban Lecture, held in 2015, featured George J. Mitchell, U.S. Senator, Senate majority leader, and renowned negotiator and fact-finder.

For additional information about the Hoban Lecture, call 570-941-4419.

David Miliband will discuss “The Global Refugee Crisis: Time for New Thinking” at the Honorable T. Linus Hoban Memorial Lecture at The University of Scranton on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center on campus. The Lackawanna Bar Association is partnering with The University of Scranton to present the lecture. 



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