First world humanitarian summit opens in Istanbul

The first World Humanitarian Summit kicked off in Istanbul Monday in a bid to revamp humanitarian aid and global responses to modern-day crises. 
Representatives of 175 countries, including 57 heads of states or governments and more than 6 thousand of officials and representatives of international bodies and civil society organizations and media are attending the two-day summit to better tackle what the United Nations describes as the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. 
At least 50 heads of government will announce several commitments to reduce humanitarian disasters. These include: preventing and ending conflict; respecting the rules of war; addressing forced displacement; achieving gender equality; responding to climate change; ending the need for aid; and investing in humanity, media reports said. 
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on world leaders to fix the gap in humanitarian funding and share the burden of helping people in need across the globe. 
In his opening remarks, Ban called on world leaders to align themselves with the five core responsibilities, such as preventing and ending conflicts and respecting the rules of war. 
In 2014, the UN reported that around $540 million of the roughly $135 billion global aid budget was spent on decreasing disaster risk. 
"I call on humanitarian organizations to work more closer together based on shared priorities to meet the needs of millions of people in crisis," Ban said.

Source: QNA