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Istanbul / AFP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged on Monday that the burden of responding to the world’s crises be more evenly shared, as leaders and aid groups gathered in Istanbul seeking to transform the global humanitarian aid system.
The over 60 heads of state and government gathered for the two-day summit convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will have to defeat considerable scepticism that the event will turn into a well-intentioned but fruitless talking shop.
With some 60 million people displaced around the world and at least 125 million requiring assistance and protection in the biggest humanitarian crises since World War II, Ban said that the summit represented a chance to forge a “different future”.
“Let us seize this opportunity, let us make our mark as agents of change,” said Ban. He warned that realising the aims was not “an easy task” and required a “political will on a scale we have not seen in recent years.”
The summit aims in particular at early warning prevention of conflicts as well as ensuring that humanitarian law is properly observed, amid alarm on attacks against schools and hospitals in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
Host Erdogan emphasised the contributions of his country, which is hosting some 3 million refugees from the Syria and Iraq conflicts and, in a barb at the West, complained others were not sharing the burden.
“The current system falls short… the burden is shouldered only by certain countries, everyone should assume responsibility from now on,” he said. “Needs increase every day but resources do not increase at the same pace. There are tendencies to avoid responsibility among the international community.”
“Turkey knows this bitterly,” he added, saying Turkey had spent $10 billion (Nine billion euros) on its hosting of Syrian refugees compared to $450 million from the rest of the international community.
Reprising a familiar theme, Erdogan also urged reform of the UN Security Council, saying the “fate of humanity” cannot depend on its five veto-wielding permanent members.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of the hightest profile guests at the summit, called for an end to empty pledges on aid that fizzled into nothing.