Seminar Abstract

As the incidence of HADR emergencies increases across the Asia-Pacific region, we find foreign militaries increasingly utilized to respond to natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies. This presents theoretical, policy and doctrinal challenges for the range of actors involved and sees militaries acting in non-traditional roles. This seminar will examine some of the limitations and drawbacks to utilizing extensive military assistance in HADR in the region, and questions the long-term viability of our current regional approach. I will consider structural challenges in the region and whether our policy-settings are steering us in the right direction for future HADR  success.

About the Speaker

Dr Kristie Barrow is a visiting senior fellow with the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster relief Programme, NTS Centre, RSIS and the Director of International and Domestic Engagement at the Australian Civil-Military Centre. She was an Australian diplomat for 12 years with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with postings at Australia’s Embassies in Ukraine, Malta, Afghanistan and Spain. During this time she worked on a range of topics as diverse as Kidnapping Taskforce to China and Japan Free Trade Agreements.

Dr Barrow served as Political Advisor to the NATO Ambassador to Kabul in 2014-15, living and working on a military base as part of the International Security Assistance Force, and later, Operation Resolute Support. In this role, she provided political and strategic advice to the civilian head of the NATO mission in support of the international security mission.

Dr Barrow has a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford (2017), a PhD in International Relations from the University of Queensland (2007) and a Bachelor’s degree with First Class Honours in Languages and Linguistics from Griffith University (2001). Before joining the Foreign Service, she worked with arms control and disarmament NGOs and think tanks, including the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.