| Date: | 19.03.2019 |
| Time: | 18:00 - 21:00 |
| Location: | Hörsaalruine Charitéplatz 1 10117 Berlin |
We are looking forward to German and international guests at the opening event of the CHA. We expect Niels Annen (Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office), Dr. Oliver Müller (Head of Caritas international), Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel (President of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe) and Florian Westphal (Managing Director of Ärzte ohne Grenzen e.V.) to discuss the event’s topic: “Humanitarian aid in crisis – does Germany need to play a bigger role?
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
Humanitarian action has rarely been more essential than today:
The number of people in need worldwide is rising year by year. Never have more people been on the run. Effective humanitarian assistance can mean the difference between life and death for millions of men, women and children. At the same time humanitarian action, actors, and the humanitarian principles are under attack and at great risk today of being undermined or underfunded. Humanitarian action is increasingly politicized and numerous governments question the relevance of humanitarian action and its principles per se, while influential experts and donors call for comprehensive humanitarian reforms.
Germany’s humanitarian engagement has quadrupled in past years in financial terms, and it is today the world’s second largest donor country. The role of German humanitarian organisations is internationally growing and the impact of German assistance is more substantial than ever. Germany has gained a lot of respect for this, but expectations have rapidly been rising and questions are raised:
How sustainable and focused on people in greatest need is the German engagement, which was expanded in the context of the refugee movement to Europe in 2015? Have humanitarian know-how and strategic substance in Germany grown on the same path as the financial resources? Have the Federal Government and German civil society greater capacities today – and do they feed these better into the international context? Should Germany further invest and engage in these areas, and where would it be most needed? On questions of humanitarian law and shrinking space and access? In the Localisation debate? On Nexus issues?
The first German humanitarian think tank, the Centre for Humanitarian Action (CHA) will raise these and other questions in its kick off event and beyond. It will engage in independent analysis of humanitarian affairs, initiate profound debates and raise awareness for humanitarian action in the general public of German speaking Europe.