SolidarityNow participates in the 1st World Humanitarian Summit by the UN, taking place in Istanbul from the 22^nd to the 24^th of May 2016. It is expected to bring together the largest humanitarian organizations worldwide and over 70 top leaders who will visit in order to participate in the global dialogue on pressing global humanitarian issues.

The inability of the international community to confront a global humanitarian crisis has sparked great insecurity and instability around the world. As the humanitarian system is being challenged, we are called to do more and for more people, and at a greater cost. The failures and proposed solutions for these ongoing issues are the subject of the first ever World Humanitarian Summit, which takes place in Turkey.

“The Summit takes place while people on the move are fleeing conflict and poverty, and trying to reach Europe in hope of creating a new, safe and dignified life. Millions of our fellow human beings live under inhumane conditions awaiting the EU’s decisions. We must realize though that the Summit is essentially humanitarian action, humanitarian aid, the meaning of humanity and solidarity as values to which we must commit” says Epaminondas Farmakis, Managing Director of SolidarityNow. “SolidarityNow is at the center of the European humanitarian crisis, but emphasizes on collecting data, best practices and identifying the methodological gaps of humanitarian-type intervention so as to design and implement better-focused projects and activities to relieve the vulnerable, and people on the move. With its participation in the Summit, SolidarityNow – which has thus far allocated 15 mil. euros to develop 48 emergency programs -, aims to further build and strengthen partnerships to achieve common goals such as is the protection, prevention, relief, and the preservation of human dignity for all.”

The first World Humanitarian Summit takes place under these global circumstances, with the participation of Member States, civil society and the private sector, who are invited to commit to five core responsibilities set by the UN Secretary General:

• Global leadership to prevent and end conflict
•  Uphold the norms that safeguard humanity
• Leave no one behind
• Change people’s lives- from delivering aid to ending need
• Invest in Humanity.

SolidarityNow participates in the civil society forum (Exhibition Fair) of the Summit, along with 300 other organizations from around the globe, presenting the organization’s findings and actions based on its multilayered humanitarian response and the involved people’s perspective on their experience and needs.

 “The World Humanitarian Summit takes place at the peak of a global humanitarian crisis we are all called to face, as the number of people suffering from the consequences of conflicts and natural disasters is constantly rising,” says Arianna Tsolakoglou, the Advocacy officer of SolidarityNow and the organization’s Focal Point to the Summit.” “It offers, however, the unique opportunity to reach an international consensus which upholds and reaffirms humanitarian principles and at the same time, to alter the current global humanitarian modus operandi in order to better serve all those in need. It is a vast, multi-stakeholder event, but also an ongoing process, involving governments, donors, civil society organizations, the private sector and representatives of affected populations. And if there is one thing all these actors can agree on, it is the need for a serious discussion about boosting, globally, the humanitarian response. Here at SolidarityNow, we feel the need and that we ought to be part of and contribute to this global discussion.”