Angela Merkel: The Humanitarian Chancellor of Germany

Angela Merkel, born on July 17, 1954, is a trained physicist and became Germany’s first female chancellor in 2005. Aware of the urgent situation of Syrians escaping for their lives and seeking shelter in Europe, Chancellor Merkel announced in August 2015 that Syrian refugees reaching Germany would be granted asylum. On an occasion where she was speaking about the reasoning behind her decision to give support to these displaced people, she said, “We can do it,” a phrase that thereafter became quite popular with the German public.

Chancellor Merkel attended the inaugural World Humanitarian Summit from May 23-24, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey. She stated, “We must not stumble forward from one disaster to the next. What is needed is a global system of international aid that interlocks and functions as smoothly as possible. The world must learn to see early warning systems, prevention, stabilization, peacebuilding and sustainable development, and the relevant instruments for each, as parts of a whole.”

She observed that peace is the most important element for sustainable development to occur and that the international community must coordinate to prevent conflicts and address crises. Supreme Master Ching Hai has spoken on several occasions about the refugees from Syria and other lands and the great nobility of nations like Germany that provide shelter and assistance to them.

In December 2015, Supreme Master Ching Hai presented Her Excellency with the Shining World Leadership Award and stated in a letter it was for her “outstanding achievements as the Chancellor to the Federal Republic of Germany… [and] extraordinary governance promoting equality, kindness and stability,” and for her “exemplary vision of a unified world.”