Tomasi: sensitizing public opinion on humanitarian issues

(Vatican Radio)  The Holy See’s former envoy to the United Nations, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, said on Tuesday we need to ask why so many people globally are suffering because of forced displacement, adding we must “try to sensitize” public opinion about this “totally unacceptable number of people” who are the victims of humanitarian emergencies.  Archbishop Tomasi’s remarks came whilst attending the first ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul as part of the Holy See’s delegation to the meeting. He was interviewed by our correspondent there, Linda Bordoni.

Listen to the interview with Archbishop Silvano Tomasi:  

Archbishop Tomasi lamented what he called the “excessive and extraordinary explosion of violence in different corners of the world” and said we need to ask ourselves why so many millions of people are suffering because of forced displacement.  According to the United Nations, there are currently around 130 million people across the world in need of humanitarian assistance and the archbishop described it as a “totally unacceptable number of people who are suffering” because of being forced to flee their homes owing to conflict or disasters. The former envoy to the UN said there is still “a huge gap” between “the words and the deeds” when it comes to pledges by the international community to tackle this humanitarian issue.

Archbishop Tomasi expressed the hope that the Istanbul summit can succeed in convincing the international community to address this problem, give “priority” to the concept of solidarity and enact “concrete and specific solutions.”