Istanbul (IINA) – UN senior officials on Sunday highlighted that the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), set to kick off Monday in the Turkish city of Istanbul, is to serve as a wake-up call for action in the service of common humanity, providing a launch pad for new initiatives, UN News Center reported.

“We have tremendous suffering in the world today. There is huge need for us to show solidarity with those who are affected by natural disasters and man-made disasters,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told reporters in a press conference in Istanbul.

In this two-day conference, more than 125 heads of state and government are expected to join representatives from the UN community, civil society, the private sector, academia and thousands of other participants.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) – the Summit’s organizing entity – the goal is to strength the humanitarian system so that preparedness and resilience are taken more seriously.

Speaking at the press conference alongside the Deputy Secretary-General, the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and head of OCHA, Steven O’Brien, said the world needs a Summit so it can make the scale of change that is necessary to help meet the needs.

Four years ago, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for the World Humanitarian Summit to be organized. Since then, 23,000 people were consulted in over 150 countries. The outcome of this global exercise is the Agenda for Humanity, a guiding document for the Summit in which the UN chief calls for people’s safety, dignity and right to thrive.

WHS calls on world leaders to commit to five core responsibilities: Prevent and end conflict; Respect rules of war; Leave no one behind; Working differently to end need; and invest in humanity.