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What was the World Humanitarian Summit?
The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, which took place in Istanbul on 23-24 May 2016, was a global call to action by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The Summit had three main goals:
- To re-inspire and reinvigorate a commitment to humanity and to the universality of humanitarian principles.
- To initiate a set of concrete actions and commitments aimed at enabling countries and communities to better prepare for and respond to crises, and be resilient to shocks.
- To share best practices which can help save lives around the world, put affected people at the center of humanitarian action, and alleviate suffering.
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Who attended the Summit?
The Summit included approximately 9,000 participants from 173 Member States of the United Nations, including 55 Heads of State and Government.
700 NGOs including 350 national and local NGOs and CSOs, and 250 international NGOs and 350 representatives of the private sector were present.
130 representatives of the United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and other stakeholders including academia, media and others also participated in the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit. -
What issues were discussed at the Summit?
At the Summit, global leaders discussed how to effectively respond to major humanitarian challenges, and how to be better prepared to meet challenges of the future. Some of the priority issues included:
- A new global approach to manage forced displacement, with an emphasis on ensuring hope and dignity for refugees or internally displaced people, and support of host countries and communities.
- Empowering women and girls, and catalysing action to gender equality.
- Adapting new approaches to respond to protracted crises and recurrent disasters, reduce vulnerability, and manage risk, by bridging the divide between development and humanitarian partners.
- Securing adequate and predictable finance to save lives and alleviate suffering.
- Reinforcing the centrality of protection in humanitarian action and increasing respect for International Humanitarian Law.
- Adapting to new challenges through local, inclusive, and context specific responses.
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What were the Summit’s outcomes?
The Summit resulted in three main documents:
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The Chair’s Summary reflected the main discussions and commitments emerging from the Summit and the way forward beyond Istanbul.
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The Commitments to Action document included the concrete set of actions and commitments in support of the Agenda for Humanity. Announcements of commitments were gathered online through an online Commitments Platform. The platform allowed Member States and other stakeholders to register commitments to action or to join existing initiatives.
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A report of the Secretary-General on the outcomes of and follow up to the Summit will be prepared in accordance with General Assembly resolution 70/106. The report will be presented before Member States at the 71st Session of the General Assembly. It will cover the main outcomes and propose a way to take the Agenda for Humanity and the commitments made at the Summit forward, as well as to assess progress over time for Member States' consideration.
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