UN Secretary-General sets out ambitious agenda for future of humanitarian aid

(New York, 30 September 2015) World leaders’ commitment to leave no one behind as they pursue the Sustainable Development Goals must extend to the 100 million people affected by humanitarian crises around the world, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today at a high-level event in the margins of the 70th General Assembly.

Representatives from Member States, civil society, private sector actors and the United Nations attended the event, which rallied world leaders ahead of the first World Humanitarian Summit to be held in Turkey in May 2016.

"The Summit is a vital opportunity to reinforce our common endeavour to save lives, and prevent and alleviate suffering," the Secretary-General said. "The scale and cost of meeting humanitarian needs is increasingly overwhelming our capacity to respond. The future will be even worse if we do not take decisive, collective action now."

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoğlu, whose country will host the WHS, stressed the importance of urgent global action to address rising humanitarian needs. “The international community faces tremendous challenges and the current humanitarian system can no longer adequately address humanitarian needs. It is high time for the international community to take responsibility in a holistic manner,” he said.

Setting the tone in the run-up to the WHS, the Secretary-General outlined the results from a truly global, multi-stakeholder consultation. Over 23,000 people in 151 countries are calling on world leaders to restore humanity and ask for concrete action to enable us how we collectively prepare for and respond to crises, and be more resilient to shocks.

The Synthesis Report of the consultations proposes five major action areas to be at the core of humanitarian aid in the future. They are: dignity, safety, resilience, partnerships and finance. The report will be available online at www.worldhumanitariansummit.org.

Moderated by Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator, participants listened to distinguished speakers and their views on how to place people at the heart of humanitarian response, how to achieve greater localization of assistance, how to better link humanitarian work with development, climate change and peacebuilding, and how to better support internally displaced people and refugees, as well as host countries and communities.

A final Global Consultation will be held in Geneva from 14 to 16 October, providing a unique opportunity for all stakeholders to rally around the five building blocks from the Synthesis Report and carry forward bold initiatives to Istanbul. The Secretary-General will issue his report on the World Humanitarian Summit in early 2016. The report will establish his vision for humanitarian action and include a 'future agenda for progress' that outlines how to achieve this vision for the World Humanitarian Summit and beyond.