Renowned experts from political think-tanks and the humanitarian community were given the opportunity to discuss and comment on the key findings of the international survey.
 

The index examines public perceptions of major humanitarian issues. It explores the international public’s attitudes toward both responsibility and effectiveness of humanitarian intervention, as well as the motivations that urge people to intervene on behalf of others. The Aurora Humanitarian Index was conducted between March and April 2018 in 12 countries: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Turkey, Japan, United States, Russia, Argentina, Iran, Armenia, Lebanon, and Kenya. Around 11,000 people were interviewed online.

The key findings of the 2018 Aurora Humanitarian Index are:

• Terrorism remains the most pressing global humanitarian threat and is seen as the most important cause leading people to leave their home across the globe.
• People are experiencing a ‘crisis overload’- they feel that there are too many humanitarian crises to keep up with in the world today.
• Knowing that a humanitarian issue affects children is the main reason that makes people feel responsible to act.
• Angela Merkel is seen as a key figure across countries when it comes to having capabilities to address the refugee crisis.
• NGOs are recognised as the most trusted organisations when it comes to providing the right level of aid to help address crises.

Aurora Co-Founder Ruben Vardanyan opened the event at Mercator Centre Berlin: “We are pleased to have the opportunity to discuss our annual study with renowned experts from think-tanks and the humanitarian community. With the Aurora Humanitarian Index, we want to contribute to a fact-based public debate on migration and flight.”

The opening remarks were followed by a keynote speech on the 2018 index highlights held by Maurice Selg, Senior Vice President of Edelman Intelligence. Renowned German experts, including Dr Steffen Angenendt from the German Insitute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Prof Dr Petra Bendel and Dr Cornelia Schu, both from the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR), then discussed the results and linked it to the current situation and public debate in Germany.

This event was part of the Global Aurora Dialogues Programme. The 2018 Aurora Humanitarian Index was revealed on 10 May 2018 in London. You can learn more about the index here.