UN marks World Humanitarian Day
Aid workers remembered on World Humanitarian Day
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By Alistair Potter. |  |
Wednesday, 19, Aug 2009 05:15
The United Nations (UN) is today marking the first-ever World Humanitarian Day, aiming to increase awareness in the importance of international cooperation in tackling humanitarian disasters.
A statement published on the UN website said the day was designed to also honour all those who have worked in the "promotion of the humanitarian cause and those who have lost their lives in the cause of duty".
The UN has warned that while great strides have been made over the last 20 years to improve the ability to responds to human crises, huge challenges still remain.
"The challenges faced by many millions of people around the world are still formidable, and the need for principled and effective humanitarian action is greater than ever," the statement declares.
Aid agencies gathered in Switzerland on Wednesday to highlight the continuing dangers faced by aid workers around the world.
During the last year, 260 humanitarian workers were the victims of kidnappings and attacks, including 122 who were killed, according to the UN.
Calling for better protection, Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in Geneva: "Killing those who are trying to help others is a particularly despicable crime, and one which all governments should join forces to prevent, and, when prevention fails, to punish."
World Humanitarian Day also marks the sixth anniversary of the 2003 truck bomb attack on the UN headquarters at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 people.
The incident caused the United Nations to leave the Iraqi capital and only recently return to the city.