| Date: | 14.01.2020 |
| Time: | 10:30 - 12:30 |
| Location: | Auswärtiges Amt, Berlin |
January 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the so-called Biafra war. A complete blockade of the Biafra region is said to have starved more than 2 million people to death between 1968 and the end of the war.
The Federal Foreign Office together with Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and the German Caritasverband e.V./Caritas international invite to the following event:
Humanitarian assistance 50 years after Biafra – significance and consequences for our commitment today
The war and the associated famine disaster are of great importance for the development of humanitarian aid and the humanitarian system as we know it today – not least because of the flagrant violations of international humanitarian law and the accusation of genocide, the considerable politicization and its immense global media attention. The war also led to an unprecedented commitment on the part of church aid organisations through an airlift with goods for the trapped population in Biafra. The organisations Diakonie and Caritas were also an important part of this coalition, accompanied by a considerable commitment of church action groups.
What does this commitment still mean for us today? What have we learned from these experiences for humanitarian aid today? How do we stand towards neutrality today? What does professional help mean? How do we organise access to humanitarian aid? We would like to discuss these questions with you, contemporary witnesses and representatives of humanitarian practice and science.
Registration until January 09, 2020 here.
The full programme can be found here.
Deutschlandfunk Kultur will then broadcast a recording of this discussion round. You will also find the audio here.