The international conference “Humanitarian Diplomacy and International Crisis Management” opened on Thursday 27 January in the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Organized by the French Foundation of the Order of Malta and the French Navy, speakers included Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO, Admiral Pierre-François Forissier, Chief of Staff of the French Navy, Msgr. Francesco Follo, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to UNESCO and the Latin Union, Louis Michel, member of the European Parliament, General Claudio Graziano, Head of the Executive Office of the Italian Minister of Defence, Former UNIFIL Commander in Lebanon and Jean-Pierre Mazery, Grand Chancellor of the Order of Malta.

Since military operations took place in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur and Sahel, crisis resolution has been constantly evolving and now largely affects the relationships between military forces, diplomats and nongovernmental organizations on the scene of action. As a matter of fact, the involvement of humanitarian organizations, medias, large multinational companies, private security firms and non-state actors on a regular basis raises the issue of having the various, State and non-State actors cohabitate, co-operate and integrate in the theatre, often with incompatible objectives.

With this objective in mind, the Order of Malta and the French Navy, who share the same concerns, have decided to hold this meeting with internationally recognized personalities representing the military and civil institutions involved in humanitarian actions, in order to defi ne the practices and courses of action to be implemented by the various actors in the theatre and delineate the aims and ethics of these types of deployments.

The Conference ended on Friday 28 January with the conclusions of Mrs Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, Chief of the French Defence Staff and Fra’ Matthew Festing, Grand Master of the Order of Malta (with a video message).

For more information:
www.conferenceordredemalte.org