The World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) may well be a signature initiative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, designed to create for himself a dynamic, if not dubious, humanitarian legacy, but it could hardly have been more heartily welcomed than in Turkey, the country where the 2016 WHS will take place later this month.

International aid work is more dangerous than ever. While attacks on aid workers declined in 2014, they remain not far below the unprecedented level of attacks the previous year, according to the Aid Worker Security Report.

The event itself is still nearly two years away, but already the "pre-summits" are in full swing. Concept notes have been written, regional consultations have started, and online forums are open for comments - all leading up to the World Humanitarian Summit itself, scheduled to take place in Turkey, probably during May 2016. The meeting was proposed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and is timed so that it will take place just as his second term of office will be drawing to a close.