Officials during the event.
Doha, Qatar: The Health Humanitarian Diplomacy workshop, co-organised by Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies at the University of Geneva has been concluded in Doha.
Held under the title “Reconstructing health systems after war in the Arab World”, the five-day event consolidated the concepts of traditional diplomacy and post-conflict recovery.
The closing ceremony was attended by Abdullah Sultan Al-Qattan, Acting Secretary-General of QRCS, H E Florence Tinguely Mattli, Ambassador of Switzerland to the State of Qatar, and Prof Karl Blanchet, Director of the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies.
Moderated by Prof Sultan Barakat, Academic Fellow at the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, the sessions brought together participants from QRCS, the University of Geneva, Türkiye’s IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS).
Several keynote speakers and experts gave in-person and virtual presentations.As part of the workshop’s agenda, the participants visited QRCS’s Disaster Information Management Center (DIMC) and were introduced to the mechanisms of disaster response, field relief interventions, and Movement-wide coordination.
In a statement, Mattli said, “Humanitarian diplomacy is at the core of the cooperation between Qatar and Switzerland. Here, we saw something very concrete, which is knowledge sharing. This is one of the strong values in the programme implemented by Qatar and Switzerland.
The programme was so intense that I think it is just the beginning of a long collaboration. I really hope that”.
She added, “Humanitarian needs are growing. We need to attend, to be more efficient, to have different perspectives, and to exchange views. The cultural dimension is also important, as well as knowledge and experience sharing. I think that Geneva, as a centre for humanitarian diplomacy, together with Qatar, can really build a strong alliance for the good of people in need”.
Prof Barakat praised QRCS as one of the most active Arab National Societies regionally, with increasing influence internationally, affecting the way things are done, including humanitarian diplomacy.
“But to get it to such places as Gaza, Syria, and elsewhere, a lot of diplomacy needs to take place to ensure access to the very minimum, and to allow humanitarian assistance to reach those in need in various parts of the world.”
