Number 240 | October 01, 2013
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that the first World Humanitarian Summit will be held in Istanbul, Turkey in 2016. The announcement was made last week during an event held on the margins of the annual high-level General Assembly debate.
Explaining the choice of Istanbul, Ban noted that Turkey became the world’s fourth largest humanitarian donor in 2012 and currently ranks third in aid donations relative to Gross National Income. In the last two years alone, approximately 450,000 Syrian refugees have sought refuge in camps or local communities in Turkey at a current cost of an estimated 2 billion US dollars to the country.
Preparations for the World Summit will begin early next year with regional consultations. The consultations will be facilitated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, led by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos.
