What’s more important: Ending decades of humanitarian crisis in countries like South Sudan and Congo, or stopping attacks on hospitals in conflict zones in Syria and Libya?
Should there have to be a choice?
The United Nations’ World Humanitarian Summit, set to take place on Monday and Tuesday in Istanbul, aims to tackle some of these issues.
But the simple act of trying to prioritise concerns has already led to some bad blood.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced earlier this month that it was pulling out of the May 23-24 summit, arguing that the most urgent issues, including how to better respond to people in need and protect aid workers, would not be addressed.
“Last year, 75 hospitals managed by or supported by MSF were bombed,” says Florian Westphal, general director of MSF Germany, arguing that the UN event would end up “letting governments off the hook” for such attacks.
Syria is a prime example.
The government removes aid from trucks going to rebel-held areas under siege, and its ally, Russia, has repeatedly used airstrikes against clinics and schools.
Russia has also voiced its displeasure with the summit, claiming that the UN was too focused on involving aid groups and was ignoring the priorities of member states.
The UN, as ever, finds itself trying to mediate between the positions.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was himself a displaced person as a child during the Korean War, and it was his decision to hold the summit and open it to non-governmental groups, according to aides.
According to the United Nations, 125mn people are currently in need of humanitarian aid.
If all these people lived in one country, it would be the ninth largest in the world. Of them, 60mn people, roughly the size of France’s population, are displaced.
The world is not only witnessing new conflicts, but it is also dealing with more unresolved ones, leading to ever higher numbers of people in need.
This means more children out of school, as providing an education is a complicated, multi-year project and seen as less urgent than providing food.
Over the long term, however, this leads to more dependency on handouts.
Under the current system, much of the aid delivered to those in need, which is far below their actual requirements, is allotted on a yearly basis.
While UN agencies and their partners have said that they need roughly $20bn  this year to meet humanitarian needs, so far only $1.5bn has been received.
The UN hopes the summit can help change this gap, as well as launch a process to ensure money is better spent.
Those affected by conflict and the aid groups who help them will be closely watching whether the summit produces only words, or results in more children getting an education, more humanitarian assistance reaching vulnerable people and war criminals being held accountable.