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First World Humanitarian Summit kicks off in Istanbul

Turkey

The World Humanitarian Summit, the first of its kind, is taking place in Istanbul, Turkey.

The summit will attempt to seek solutions to the growing humanitarian problems affecting millions across the world.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon convened the gathering four years ago and according to UN officials, 23,000 people were consulted in over 150 countries in preparation for the event.

War and climate change are adding to the burden heaped on peoples, states and NGO’s.

The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, Stephen O’Brien said the summit’s success would be defined by the number of commitments to action made.

“The scale of need now forces us to look at all the changes we need to make to bring innovative and better solutions, so that we can meet needs and if we don’t do it we simply condemn many generations and cohorts of people to a life, which is never going to be out of suffering,” he said.

I'm presently attending the 1st World Humanitarian Summit. #ShareHumanity AU_PSD _AfricanUnion AUC_DPA WHSummit pic.twitter.com/8AhtTLNVb9

— Mme. Bineta Diop (@AUBinetaDiop) May 23, 2016

A coordinated global response such as this is what Pope Francis called for when he asked for prayers to “save the life of every human being, no one excluded, especially the innocents and most defenseless.”

Meeting the basic needs of millions of refugees as well as access to education for millions of children will also be discussed at the first ever humanitarian summit.

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