Humanitarian agencies divided over world summit

Pope Francis sent a top-level Holy See delegation to Istanbul for the first World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul on 23 and 24 May. However the summit was boycotted by one of the world’s leading aid agencies, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which described it as a “fig-leaf of good intentions”. John Norris, executive director of the sustainable security and peace-building initiative at the Centre for American Progress, was equally sceptical about the summit’s usefulness, saying it was “shaping up as something of a train wreck ... It has been designed more as a gigantic jamboree,” he said.

Convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and bringing together governments, humanitarian organisations, people affected by humanitarian crises and new partners including the private sector, the summit called for everyone to “invest in humanity” and asked participants to set an agenda for effective humanitarian action.

In the Holy See delegation were the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Permanent Observer to the UN, Archbishop Bernard Auza, and Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, until a few months ago the Permanent Observer to the UN in Geneva.

 The agenda also focused on climate change, urbanisation, population growth and how new technology can be used for the benefit of all. The role of religious organisations and faith-based groups in peace-making, humanitarian assistance and reconstruction was discussed.  
In its statement, MSF attacked the summit for neglecting to “reinforce the obligations of states to uphold and implement the humanitarian and refugee laws which they have signed up to”.

“As shocking violations of international humanitarian law and refugee rights continue on a daily basis, WHS participants will be pressed to a consensus on non-specific, good intentions,” MSF said. “The summit has become a fig-leaf of good intentions, allowing these systematic violations, by states above all, to be ignored.” The UK delegation was led by International Development Secretary Justine Greening. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is close to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was the only G7 leader to attend.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, snubbed the event, expressing concerns over plans to limit UN Security Council members’ veto powers.

In his message to the WHS, Pope Francis condemned “military, economic and geo-political strategies” that displace persons and “impose the god of money, the god of power”. The number of those forcibly displaced in the world stands at 60 million, according to the UN.