The First World Humanitarian Summit was hosted by the Turkish Government in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey on 23-24 May 2016. The Summit convened 9000 participants from 173 Member States, including 55 Heads of State and Government, hundreds of private sector representatives, and thousands of people from civil society and non-governmental organisations.

The World Humanitarian Summit has been a wake-up call for action for humanity. It has generated global thrust and political will to move forward on the Agenda for Humanity and the five core responsibilities to deliver better for people across the globe:

• Political Leadership to Prevent and end Conflict
• Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
• Leave No One Behind
• Change People’s Lives: From Deliverıng Aid to Ending Need
• Invest in Humanity.

The Summit featured seven high-level roundtables, 15 special sessions, 132 side events, and two days of plenary; as well as the exhibition fair and innovation market place. Commitments made at the Summit will also have a serious role in attaining commitments made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and the Paris (COP 21) Agreement on Climate Change, on the needs and the interest of the most vulnerable.

As part of the Summit, SESRIC and IDB presented a white paper on “Resilience Development Initiative for IDB Member Countries: Leveraging on the Innovation of Islamic Social Finance Mechanism” under the theme of Working Differently to End Need on 23 May 2016. On this occasion H.E. Amb. Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General of SESRIC, made a statement where he mentioned that a number of OIC Member Countries have been affected by tragic human crises resulting in unimaginable human suffering during the last several years; and according to UN-OCHA, around 75 million people from top ten OIC Member Countries are badly affected by various humanitarian crises, but only less than 50 million are targeted for UN humanitarian assistance in 2016. Amb. Kulaklıkaya also stated that The World Humanitarian Summit offers an opportunity to galvanize the collective actions in addressing the challenges of OIC countries in reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience, however, it is critical to ensure that everyone contributes to the process, where realistic targets are set to observe the performance towards achieving the goals in building resilience.

Dr. Kenan Bağcı, senior researcher of SESRIC, made a presentation at this side event on “Humanitarian Crises in OIC Countries: Five Remedies for Building Resilience and Reducing Vulnerabilities” that is a background report to help to improve our understanding on the drivers and impacts of humanitarian crises and provide a short account of current humanitarian crises observed in OIC Member Countries. The report shows that crises have great impact on health, education, poverty and food security in the affected regions. The affected countries become more fragile due to impacts on systems and institutions. Natural disasters and conflicts also substantially destroy assets and productive capacities of the affected regions. Moreover, while such crises are highly associated with increasing number of human rights violations, a direct outcome is usually a surge in migration and force displacement.

The Mapping Turkey’s Resource Centres study was announced at the side event on “Resilience Development Initiative for IDB Member Countries”. The study provides an analysis of Turkey’s institutional capacity for international development cooperation. The study showcases the country’s best practices and South-South cooperation potential in some selected areas and field, including agriculture, livestock and food security, health and nutrition, technical and vocational education and training, transport and communications, disaster and emergency management.

H.E. Amb. Musa Kulaklıkaya also addressed another side event on “Employment of Syrians under Temporary Protection Status in Turkey and Their Access to Labour Market” organised by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Turkey on 23 May 2016. Amb. Kulaklıkaya stated that according to the UNHCR, the total number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria has reached 13.5 million, approximately 7 million of whom are internally displaced and around 4.8 million of Syrian people fled to other countries that they became refugees due to the war in Syria. He also mentioned that as per the policy options in employment, revealed by the recent report of SESRIC, one of the major problems faced by Syrian refugees is their legal status and permission to work and Turkey is the only country that has introduced specific legislation to address the needs of Syrian refugees.

Exhibition Fair also took place at the first World Humanitarian Summit during 22-24 May 2016 where 200 different organisations participated and which is dedicated to showcasing the work, products, and programmes of governments, organizations, agencies, companies, and other institutions in support of humanitarian action. In addition to the Exhibition Fair, there was an Innovation Marketplace where innovative products or processes selected for presentation.

More information about the World Humanitarian Summit is available on: https://www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/

Statements

• Opening Statement SESRIC (English)
• Opening Statement SESRIC (English)

Presentation

• Humanitarian Crisis in OIC Countries (English)

Online Electronic Version of Mapping Turkey’s Resource Centres Study

• Mapping Turkey’s Resource Centres 2016 (English)

Photos