World needs leadership for humanitarian aid: WHS official

By Hanife Sevinc, Cigdem Pala

ISTANBUL

Chief of the World Humanitarian Summit Secretariat Jemilah Mahmood said Saturday that the structure of the world humanitarian aid system should be changed.

In a forum ahead of the upcoming first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, which is to take place in Istanbul on May 23-24, Mahmood said the current aid system was insufficient when dealing with the world’s humanitarian needs.

"The structure of humanitarian aid system should be changed," she said.

"We do need a leadership of the humanitarian aid system, which will be our most important call for the World Humanitarian Summit," Mahmood added.

Mahmood noted that 17 million people worked voluntarily for Red Crescent sections around the world.

The head of Turkish Red Crescent, Kerem Kinik, said in the same forum: "We raised $14 billion as a nongovernmental organization [50 percent of money raised by humanitarian NGOs int the world, according to Kinik] last year, and we spent the whole money."

During the world humanitarian summit in Istanbul, attended by 125 of the UN’s 193 member states, at least 50 heads of government are expected to announce several commitments in humanitarian disasters.

*Anadolu Agency correspondent Emin Avundukluoglu contributed to this report from Ankara.