Polish PM to attend World Humanitarian Summit

The two-day event is to bring together 45 world leaders, 80 governments, and 250 representatives of civil society organisations and the private sector. A total of 6,000 people are expected to take part.

The participants of the summit are to work out an agenda for a collective response to the rising levels of humanitarian need in the world.

The delegates are to adopt policies and measures to facilitate international collaboration within the scope of delivering aid to civilians affected by natural disasters and armed conflict, government spokesperson Rafał Bochenek told news agency PAP.

"Poland will support any decisions and declarations concerning humanitarian assistance for communities most in need," Bochenek said. The Polish delegation will "also back any institutional arrangements aimed at resolving global humanitarian crises. Poland will also endorse solutions supporting human rights on the international arena."

UN chief Ban Ki Moon's report released in the run-up to the summit put the total of cost of humanitarian aid for some 120 million people in need at USD 19.5 bn in 2015. International contributions fell some USD 9.3 bn short of the needs, the report found.

Queried whether Poland would commit to any financial targets in order to help close this gap, Bochenek said, "No one is expected to make any financial commitments −this is not a donors' summit." The government spokesman added that the goal of the event was rather to "reach common ground on international collaboration."

UN statistics point to an unprecedented increase of people affected by conflict and natural disaster in recent years. Up to 78 million people worldwide rely on humanitarian support to survive. (aba)

Source: PAP