Sovereign Order of Malta Organizes 'Religions Together for Humanitarian Action' Symposium in Geneva

 

Rome, 28/05/2015 
 

Humanitarian aid in light of the current international situation

Yesterday in Geneva, representatives of four different faiths – Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Vedantism – as well as experts and diplomatic representatives, leaders of secular and faith-based humanitarian organisations met in the United Nations for the ‘Religions Together for Humanitarian Action’ symposium organised by the Sovereign Order of Malta. The Director General of the United Nations Office Geneva opened the symposium.

The violent conflicts underway in many areas of the world have reached unprecedented heights, with an ever-growing number of victims – most of whom are civilians. At the same time we are witnessing a progressive deterioration in the application of international humanitarian law. In this context, religion is often considered the cause of wars. But the reality is much more complex, as the Sovereign Order of Malta’s Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Boeselager, explained in his opening speech: “It is my firm conviction that religious motivations can induce violence when separated from moral context and poisoned by corruption and thirst for power. Conflicts may contain religious elements but they are always driven by cultural, economic, ethnic and territorial factors and often by external pressures”.

To seek a basis of shared values, to create a code of conduct applicable to all institutions and organisations engaged in humanitarian aid, to reach local communities by investing in infrastructure and assistance networks already present in the territories involved in conflicts, not to mention promoting the values of humanitarian bodies to combat prejudices of both people and governments. These were some of the proposals emerging from the debate, consisting of two panels, each with five speakers. Panellists included Jemilah Mahmood, Chief of the World Humanitarian Summit Secretariat, the initiative launched by United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. The Order of Malta’s symposium was held in the build up to the World Humanitarian Summit, scheduled for May 2016 in Istanbul with the purpose of updating humanitarian aid practices.

In his concluding speech, the Sovereign Order of Malta’s Grand Hospitaller Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel recalled the imperative to reassert firmly “the humanitarian principles the international community ratified after World War II in full respect of local traditions and cultures”. The Grand Hospitaller encouraged dialogue and cooperation among the different faiths, a theme that ran throughout the debate, enriched also by an invaluable testimony from the Order of Malta’s Lebanese Association. For over two decades it has been running humanitarian aid programmes in this country in partnership with the Shia, Sunni and Druze communities.

The symposium – organised thanks to the work of the Sovereign Order of Malta’s Mission to the UN Geneva – will produce a document with the guidelines and recommendations emerging from the debate that will be presented during the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul next year.

Before the start of the symposium the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Michael Moller, received the Grand Chancellor Albrecht Boeselager, the Grand Hospitaller Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel and the Order of Malta Ambassador at the United Nations Marie-Thérèse Pictet-Althann, in his office for an exchange of ideas.

 

Keynote speech by Albrecht Boeselager

Closing speech by Dominique de La Rochefoucauld

Symposium programme

 

 

(Vatican Radio)  Humanitarian agencies across the world, faith-based organizations, civil society, NGOs and government bodies are preparing to meet at the first global World Humanitarian Summit scheduled to take place in Istanbul in May next year.

The summit, which is an initiative of UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, plans to find new ways to tackle humanitarian needs in our fast-changing world.

It aims to set a new agenda for global humanitarian action. To do this, a series of events and meetings will focus on humanitarian effectiveness, reducing vulnerability and managing risk, transformation through innovation, and serving the needs of people in conflict.

A pre-summit event organized by the Sovereign Order of Malta and entitled “Religions Together for Humanitarian Action”  took place in Geneva at the end of May.

Vatican Radio’s Francesca Sabatinelli was at the meeting and spoke to Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, the Chief of the World Humanitarian Summit Secretariat about the Geneva initiative which aimed to pave the way to the World Humanitarian Summit and to draw up some new directives.

Dr Mahmood says that participants at the “Religions Together for Humanitarian Action” event were called to draw up an inclusive plan which will set the agenda for future humanitarian intervention.

She says that the contribution offered by faith-based organizations is of enormous importance, also because they form a very large proportion of organizations who actually respond to humanitarian crises.

“The first responders in any crisis are the communities themselves, and they run to places of worship, for refuge, for shelter… and it’s local Churches and local Mosques that actually offer assistance” she says.

Mahmood says she thinks it has never really been understood how best to leverage on the importance of faith-based organizations in actually being front liners in humanitarian response.

“How do we use faith-based organizations also to support humanitarian action? By providing access, dialogue, better inter-faith communication and better access for other actors as well” she says.

Mahmood says the initiative of the Order of Malta that brought together people from different faiths and backgrounds provided a wonderful occasion to brainstorm and compare ideas.

“The reality in the world today is that we are in a very very dark period of our history, and while faith is supposed to unite and give solidarity and peace sometimes it is misused for war” she says.

“I think it is very important that people of faith start to address this” she concludes.