World Humanitarian Day 2021

World Humanitarian Day is held on August 19 each year globally. The day honors all humanitarians who have worked in the favor of the humanitarian cause and those who have lost their lives in the cause of duty. It aims to raise mass cognizance about humanitarian assistance activities globally and the significance of international cooperation.

World Humanitarian Day was established by the General Assembly of the UN in December 2008 and was first observed in August 2009. The date of August 19 is the anniversary date of the 2003 Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad where twenty-two people lost their lives including the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

According to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, “The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.” Thus, the key focusing area is to combat the climate crisis by pressuring world leaders to take meaningful climate action for the world’s most vulnerable people.

Humanitarian workers manage and develop emergency response programs, and typically operate in front line conditions, helping communities to rebuild their lives after disasters, to become more resilient to future crises, to advocate for their voices to be heard, and to build lasting and sustainable peace and development in areas hit by human or natural disasters.

These people work untiringly without expecting anything in return. In this regard, this day is highly significant to recognize their work and contribution.