first global humanitarian summit finished this Tuesday, May 24 in Istanbul, on a halftone note for 6000 participants, in which the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon was present. Ban Ki-moon felt the absence of the representatives of the richest states. Besides Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, no other leader of the G7 countries participated in this summit. “I invite everyone with no obligation to come,” said the Secretary General of the United Nations in conclusion of this global event. He addressed the members of the Security Council reminding them that even if they were absent from this summit they still retained a duty to act, and to show more compassion, solidarity and political will to solve the conflicts. On the bank of the great absences was also the doctor Sans Frontiere. The NGO, of which 75 hospitals were attacked last year, had already expressed their refusal to participate in this summit that had been qualified as a “fig-leaf of good intentions.”
The truth is that this summit organized by the UN was a world first. And this allowed putting at the same table 500 members of the NGO, 136 countries and private actors to speak of humanity, vulnerable people, stricken people around the world, differences between emergency aid and development aid, and to talk about other essential information. This first global humanitarian summit was organized in Turkey, the first country in line on the Syrian crisis, which has been happening since the beginning of the hostilities against a large number of Syrian refugees, considering 2.7 million. President Turc RecepTayyipErdogan also expressed himself, his sadness that concerned particularly the lack of European aid to solve the Syrian crisis. The 6 billion euros pledged last March by the European Union, in fact, were never deposited in the Turkish account.After these two days of discussions, several measures have been taken, about 1500 according to Ban Ki-moon, and a pact was signed by the participants. The Secretary General of the United Nations stated that all these efforts and these documents, the result of these two days of work but also of previous negotiations, would be presented in September at the time of the next general meeting of the UN.
Some data of the humanitarian emergency
- 60 million displaced people in the world due to conflicts
- 125 million people in need of assistance
- 886 million people living in extreme poverty
- Every 6 people one suffers from chronic hunger
- 28 billion dollars have been spent on humanitarian aid in 2015 (21, 8 billion dollars come from governments and institution, 6.2 billion come from the private sector)
ALFA