HUMANITARIAN AID - HOPE IN DARK TIMES?

Irene Horejs in conversation with Flavio Del Ponte and Maurizio Cardi

HUMANITARIAN AID - HOPE IN DARK TIMES?

Cambodia, Vietnam, Sahara, Afghanistan, Somalia, Rwanda - as a surgeon, Flavio del Ponte was confronted with the suffering of war all over the world for forty years. He has worked as a trainer for war surgeons, including on behalf of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), as Chief Medical Officer of a UN mission in Africa and as Medical Advisor to the UN General Secretariat in New York. As a medical expert for Switzerland, he was responsible for the international dossiers on combating landmines (Ottawa Convention) and bioterrorism. In his book „Dissonances“, published by Westend-Verlag, he talks about his life in the service of humanitarianism.

At the Bruno Kreisky Forum, Irene Horejs talks to Flavio del Ponte and his Italian surgeon colleague Maurizio Cardi, who works for the aid organisation Emergency She talks about her experiences in international humanitarian aid, about her work in conflict regions where healthcare has collapsed and the population suffering from war and persecution is dependent on international support.

Greeting:

Sabine Kroissenbrunner, Secretary General of the Bruno Kreisky Forum
Manuel Irman, Deputy Head of Mission of the Swiss Embassy in Austria

Panel discussion:

Flavio del Ponte, Swiss surgeon and author,
Maurizio Cardi, Italian surgeon, on assignment for the aid organisation since 2007 EMERGENCY, which has been campaigning for free, high-quality medical care for victims of war and poverty for three decades - including in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, Gaza, Iraq and Ukraine - and is active in the Mediterranean with the Life Support rescue shipRepresentative Austrian Red Cross (enquired)

Moderation
Irene Horejs, former EU Ambassador to Niger and Mali, among others, was also Director for Africa, Asia and Latin America at the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Office ECHO

In co-operation with the Westend Publishing House and Emergency Austria