UN supremo says society is numb to human suffering

John Ging Director of the Coordination and Response Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York, Kevin Kelly, Director, Emergency and Recovery at Irish Aid and Judith Randel, Executive Director at Development Initiatives were speakers this afternoon at Concern Worldwide conference at University College Dublin. Today is World Refugee Day.

"If I go home and talk to my mother about 'Gender Based Violence' she continues to eat her Corn Flakes but if I tell her about the rapes that are perpetrated in areas of conflict she immediately stops eating her flakes, " Mr Ging was stressing the importance of NGOs using a language that is easily understandable.

In a wide-ranging talk, he pointed out how the rights of people are not being upheld and that UN member states are not sufficiently committed  to supporting the developing world.

Mr Ging asked how best to get the world's leading states to help. He said that if there is not political priority there is not a funding priority.

He also asked why society is right now so numb to human suffering.