On May 27, 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 organizations met in the United Nations for the ‘Religions Together for Humanitarian Action’ symposium organized by the Sovereign Order of Malta.
The Director General of the United Nations Office Geneva opened the symposium.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 – organized 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.
There were 2 representatives from the Albanian Organization of the Order of Malta in this symposium.