World Humanitarian Day: 19 August 2012

August 19 is World Humanitarian Day.

World Humanitarian Day was launched in 2003 when the special representative of the secretary-general to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 colleagues died in a car bomb attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. It is a day to pay tribute to all humanitarian workers who have lost their lives doing good in the world. I was in Baghdad on that fateful day.

Where once humanitarians were respected for providing time, expertise and compassion in countries where conflict and natural disasters occur, they are now all too often targeted for kidnapping, harassment, and death. Sometimes they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Attacks on humanitarian posts have tripled in the last decade. In the past year, according to the United Nations, 109 humanitarian workers have been killed, 143 were wounded, and 132 have been abducted. In all cases, the humanitarians were unarmed – for they are peace workers and never carry arms. Most would think that the humanitarians who have been killed are international workers in a foreign country, but that’s not the case. The majority of the 109 humanitarian workers killed in the past 12 months were local aid workers in their own country. They often work for their country’s Red Cross, in aid programs, or with international organizations. They are skilled aid workers with direct knowledge of the situation, such as health workers, interpreters and translators, conflict mitigation workers, social workers, refugee and migration officers, and legal aid workers.

Hence, World Humanitarian Day aims to recognize that every act of kindness and support contributes to a better world. It is important to recognize the various ways that humanitarians work to help others: some give money, time or ideas, while others share skills and expertise; and others donate food and goods.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/a-day-to-remember-aid-workers-and-to-reach-out-to-others-20120818-24f26.html

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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