SG/SM/18118-IHA/1415

Champion Outcomes of World Humanitarian Summit, Secretary-General Urges, at High-Level Side Event on Advancing Agenda for Humanity

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the high-level side event “Beyond the World Humanitarian Summit:  Advancing the Agenda for Humanity”, in New York today:

Thank you for joining me today for the presentation of my report on the outcomes of the World Humanitarian Summit.  I thank Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and the people of Turkey for hosting this unique event, and for bringing the One Humanity mural from Istanbul to New York for the General Assembly.  Thank you very much.

I thank the 180 Member States, including the 55 Heads of State and Government who attended the Summit, together with the tens of thousands of participants from civil society, international organizations and the private sector.

I convened the World Humanitarian Summit and presented the Agenda for Humanity and its five core responsibilities because we are living in a period of uncommon volatility, unresolved conflicts and unabated suffering, affecting millions of people around the world.  We will only begin to turn the tide when we re-commit to our common humanity.

The Summit sought to reinvigorate our individual and collective responsibility to respond, and to unite us in prevention and in breaking the cycles of recurrent crisis and conflict.  I was encouraged by the number of leaders and Member States that embraced the Agenda for Humanity.  More than 3,000 commitments and many more initiatives were launched at the Summit.  My report highlights some of the priority areas that emerged from the Summit, and will guide our humanitarian work over the coming years.

The Summit confirmed we cannot continue with business as usual.  Humanitarian crises need political solutions.  Greater and longer-term investment is needed to build stable and inclusive societies.  Leaders pledged to comply with international humanitarian and human rights law, and to hold violators accountable.  I continue to look to the Security Council to overcome its divisions and take important steps to fulfil their unique responsibility to pursue peace and stability.

The Summit also affirmed that a new approach is needed to meet, prevent and reduce humanitarian needs.  Humanitarian and development actors agreed on a new way of working together towards collective outcomes to accomplish this.  We must be steadfast in our resolve that only impartial, neutral and independent humanitarian action will allow us to access people in need, wherever they are.

International organizations and donors made commitments to support the leading role of national and local actors.  Participants took concrete steps to uphold women’s and girls’ rights; strengthen the protection and resilience of people displaced by crises; and ensure the inclusion of the most vulnerable in all our programmes.  And the Summit marked a clear shift towards longer-term financing and investment in humanitarian operations.

Building on these outcomes, my report presents a simple road map to promote accountability for commitments and continue to advance the Agenda for Humanity.  But, first, we need to document the commitments made and those to come.

Today, I am proud to launch the online Platform for Action, Commitments and Transformation — PACT.  This platform will be a dynamic space to report on progress and showcase results, build engagement and create new partnerships.  I count on you to make PACT a success.

Second, we will produce an annual synthesis report to assess our collective progress and identify areas that may be lagging.

Third, a high-level stocktaking meeting within the next five years should assess progress against our goal of reducing humanitarian needs, risk and vulnerability.  This should also identify gaps and new challenges.

Fourth, I put forward Member States, civil society, private sector and other forums that can be used to advance the outcomes of the Summit.  All have an important role in facilitating change and broadening the diversity of partnerships and alliances.

The Summit kick-started concrete changes in the way we address humanitarian need, risk and vulnerability.  Now, the hard work of delivering this change, and making lasting improvements for people caught up in crisis, is in our hands.  These steps are at the core of the 2030 Agenda.  They are the basis of our collective pledge to leave no one behind.

I count on all of you to champion the outcomes of the Summit and give your strongest political and financial support to the new initiatives and alliances.  Together, we must deliver on our collective promise to create a future of hope and dignity for millions of people in need.

I thank you for your commitment.  Thank you.

For information media. Not an official record.