World Humanitarian Day on August 19 honors humanitarian aid workers all over the world. Established by the UN in 2009, this day commemorates the anniversary of the bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Iraq. 22 people lost their lives, including the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights. The day aims to spread awareness about the need for humanitarian assistance worldwide. The UN hopes that the day will serve as a reminder to people of the risk taken by some to save lives and support humanitarian causes.
World Humanitarian Day 2022: Campaign
The 2022 campaign, according to the United Nations, shines a light on “thousands of volunteers, professionals and crisis-affected people who deliver urgent health care, shelter, food, protection, water and much more.”
World Humanitarian Day 2022: Significance
The United Nations has decided to use digital art to narrate stories of people in need and those who help them. At the centre of the campaign, the international body said, is a series of beautifully illustrated aid worker profiles. These profiles narrate the breadth and depth of humanitarian work and collectively symbolise the wider humanitarian village.
World Humanitarian Day: History
A bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killed 22 humanitarian aid workers on August 19, 2003. The lives taken away included the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Five years after this, the UNGA adopted a resolution designating 19 August as World Humanitarian Day (WHD).
WHD is a campaign by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
