Christof Bosch, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Robert Bosch Stiftung welcomed attendees to the Aurora Dialogues Berlin 2017 at the Robert Bosch Stiftung Center in Berlin. He emphasized the importance of the “Gratitude in Action” concept, the driving force of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and related it to Germany’s historical experience. “We are grateful because Germany has a history, which is a difficult history in terms of genocide and Aurora Prize is a way how to deal in a productive and positive way with this threatful memory we all share in different roles,” he said.
He continued highlighting the need for shared responsibility in the global refugee crisis hoping that the conversations like the Aurora Dialogues will help to address the urgent issues. “The hope is that this meeting will be fruitful not only for us but much more important for those millions on the move, the refugees who do not have well-heated houses like this room today.”
Noubar Afeyan, an Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Co-founder, welcomed the participants and explained that the main topic of the Aurora Dialogues Berlin – migration – has special significance for the Aurora co-founders since their ancestors, too, were forced migrants 100 years ago.
He spoke about the positive impact of migration. “The reason that the United States excelled in innovation is because innovation is just intellectual immigration and immigrants who have the experience to leave their comfort zone, learning new languages, new rules, taking nothing for granted, expecting nothing from anybody but then figuring out the way to create change are ideal for an innovation economy,” he said.
Noubar Afeyan highlighted the importance to express gratitude saying: “The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is in fact born out of the sense, that Armenians have, of gratitude to those who saved our lives a hundred years ago. We are engaging today and trying to bring special attention to those who are doing the same work today. The people who helped us are no longer here but unfortunately for the world their work is even more in demand today. Our hope is to encourage people to go "from zero to hero."
The keynote speech of the first day of Aurora Dialogues Berlin was delivered by Wolfgang Huber, former Chair of the Council, Evangelische Kirche Deutschland (EKD). Entitled “Empathy and clarity in times of global migration” his speech focused on the global conversation and debate over the migration crisis from a moral perspective.
Criticizing the fear and apathy of some European societies towards the refugee crisis, he said, “In the public debate the term refugee crisis is an everyday expression, but many people argue the crisis will develop into catastrophe as long as we do not secure our borders in a strict manner against the influx of refugees. The fact that other European countries do not participate in the reception of refugees on a comparable level ends up in a rather horrible moralistic discussion.”
He said that there is no reason for moralistic self-justification for taking no action to help refugees. “That becomes even clear when you look beyond the borders of Europe. If you compare the number of refugees in different countries you realize that countries like Pakistan, Iran or Turkey accommodate more refugees than Germany. There is no reason for moralistic exaggeration but only for a continuous willingness to empathy and humanitarian action.”
The Aurora Dialogues Berlin began with a first session entitled, “Modern-day saviors: responsibility in time of global challenges.”