By Funmi Ajumobi,  reporting from UNGA70 New York

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban ki-Moon  has said the world cannot achieve a world of safety and dignity for all without addressing the plight of millions of women, children and men affected by humanitarian crises.

Speaking Wednesday at the World Humanitarian Summit Side event of United Nation General Assembly  said that despite efforts of thousands of men and women that dedicate themselves to helping communities facing perilous circumstances, the number of people in need continue to escalate and the scale and cost of meeting humanitarian needs is increasingly overwhelming the capacity to respond.

Adding that the future will be worse if decisive, collective action is not taken now that more than 60 million people around the world have been forced to abandon their homes due to violence and persecution.

Ban Ki-moon

Speaking further, he said the trend of numbers of people at risk caused by the absence of political solutions, populations rise along with extreme poverty, growing inequality and rapid unplanned urbanization, natural hazards, climate change must be reversed adding that behind each statistic is a human life: a woman, a man, a child, with aspirations and human rights and each deserves protection and a right to a life of dignity.

“To protect people in crises, we must put their safety first.To build resilience, we must invest in preparedness. We must manage risk, reduce vulnerability and ensure that preparedness is part of development policy and design from the outset.And to reach all who need life-saving assistance, we must ensure unfettered humanitarian access and universal respect for humanitarian principles and actors.We must also find new ways to raise resources”. He added.

Presenting his speech, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu said the current conflicts around the world demonstrate the spread of hatred,discrimination and extremism which result in the segregation of people with specific ethnic or religious backgrounds, and they also hinder tolerance, co-existence and harmony among civilizations.

Davutoglu said countries must avoid alienation, exclusion, vilification of certain communities or religions if we want to bring down the walls that divide us. ‘We must act together against all forms of racism and xenophobia, including Islamophobia, withoutexception. Only then can we collectively fight against extremism,radicalization, terrorism in an effective manner. We must encourage inclusiveness and democratic legitimacy, and must respect popular will and consent. We cannot condone prioritizing “oppressive security” vis-a-vis universal rights and freedoms that we have collectively undersigned at the UN’.

To the the UN, Davutoglu said, as the ultimate global institution representing the vision of peace, mustremain relevant and effective in coping with all the major challenges, the change in the UN is not yet comprehensive enough to make it fully fit for purpose despite the major steps taken so far to adapt it to new global realities. ‘ Any UN reform will remain incomplete unless there is reform in the Security Council’. He added