Rights Organizations Not Invited to World Humanitarian Summit

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The World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) has started in İstanbul today. Yet the leading human rights organizations such as Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV), Human Rights Association (İHD) and Helsinki Citizens Assembly (HYD) have not been invited to the summit organized by United Nations.

The organizations are also critical against the summit being held in Turkey where human rights violations are common.

Secretary General of TİHV Metin Balcı and the Chairperson of İHD Öztürk Türkdoğan have told bianet their views on the World Humanitarian Summit and have criticized various aspects regarding the summit beginning with its name.

Türkdoğan: Critical about holding the summit in Turkey

Chairperson of İHD Öztürk Türkdoğan has noted that the human rights organizations in Turkey had not been invited to the summit and expressed that this alone constituted an important problem in the first place.

“We had already expressed our concerns regarding the Readmission Agreement between Turkey and the European Union and explained that this contradicted the refugee law. Turkey can not be considered a safe state while there is still a war ongoing in the country.

“In addition, the camps of  AFAD (The Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey) are kept closed and are not supervised by any rights organization.

“Holding the humanitarian summit in Turkey under these current circumstances imply that all the great powers have turned the refugee issue into a matter bargain”.

Bakkalcı: UDHR was written with the motto “Never again”

TİHV Secretary General, Metin Bakkalcı as well said they haven’t received invitation. “It would be absurd for such an invitation to be delivered to us”, Bakkalcı noted.

“Our world and Turkey in particular have been living the most painful times of our recent history. The last attempt in the world was ‘Never again’. It is also the period in which the system of values is being the most harmed.

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was signed with the motto ‘Never again’ based on human rights, ensuring free, equal life together”.

Bakkalcı drew attention to that the summit is known as “World Aid Summit” and a perception as “aid being bestowed” is being generated.

“Calling this ‘humanitarian aid’ constitutes a big paradox. It shows how much the values have been damaged”.

MSF has withdrawn from the summit

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has announced their withdrawal from the summit as follows:

“Our hope that the World Humanitarian Summit will tackle the weak points of humanitarian aid in especially conflict zones and epidemic situations have vanished. Instead of that, it looks as the summit is in tendency to make humanitarian aid a part of development”.

Britain-based aid organization, Oxfam as well criticized the summit and described it as “expensive talking shop”. (AS/DG/TK)