Her Royal Highness the Princess Astrid of Belgium gave an inspiring speech during the luncheon, talking about the nature of humanitarian action in today’s world. She is the Chairwoman of the Belgian Red Cross. A couple of quotes:

“Perhaps we should learn to deal with the fact that in our society there will always be a small minority of 5 or 10 % who need to be taken care of by the state — given that everyone deserves decent healthcare, education and housing”.

“Every year social benefits increase by 1% less then salaries”. This impacts particularly single women, especially those with children who receive no financial support from their partner, and this becomes more acute in times when a lot of familes have two incomes.

“I refuse to conform to the image of a lady of charity. I seek instead to mobilize networks”.