New York: Europe and the Arabs
The United Nations commemorated the twentieth anniversary of its employees who were killed in a terrorist attack on its headquarters in Baghdad in 2003. In honor of the victims of the bombing, the United Nations commemorated them by declaring August 19 as World Humanitarian Day to call for ensuring the safety and security of humanitarian workers. According to what came In the news of the United Nations, which we received a copy of this Saturday morning.
And at the United Nations headquarters in New York yesterday, senior officials of the organization laid a wreath at a memorial in front of the flag of the United Nations, which was flying over its headquarters in Baghdad when the attack occurred.
At his daily press conference, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric read out the names of the 22 staff members killed in the suicide bombing, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq.
And the United Nations has warned that 2023 will become another year that will witness large numbers of victims among aid workers.
In a press release marking World Humanitarian Day on August 19, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 62 aid workers have been killed in crises around the world this year, while 84 have been injured, and 34 have been kidnapped. The death toll among aid workers last year reached 116.
The Republic of South Sudan has been the most insecure for several consecutive years, with 40 attacks on aid workers and 22 deaths recorded as of 10 August 2023.
Sudan comes second, with 17 attacks reported on humanitarian workers, resulting in 19 deaths so far.
The statement indicated that this number exceeds the numbers recorded since the height of the conflict in Darfur between 2006 and 2009.
There have been casualties and injuries among aid workers in the Central African Republic, Mali, Somalia and Ukraine, where 444 aid workers were attacked last year. In 2021, 460 humanitarian workers were attacked, resulting in 141 deaths.
Memory of the Baghdad bombing
"World Humanitarian Day and the Canal Hotel bombing will always be an occasion where we have mixed feelings, which were and still are tough for me and for many," said the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, on the occasion of that anniversary.
"Every year, nearly six times more aid workers are killed in the line of duty than on that dark day in Baghdad, and they are overwhelmingly local aid workers," Griffiths emphasized.
"Impunity for these crimes is a scar on our collective conscience," he added. "It is time for us to move on talking about upholding international humanitarian law and to address impunity for violations."
In the face of mounting humanitarian needs, the United Nations and its partners aim to provide assistance to nearly 250 million people in crisis around the world, 10 times the number of people compared to 2003.
Despite the challenges of security and the difficulties of humanitarian access facing relief work, humanitarian workers from all walks of life are campaigning this year to highlight their continued commitment to providing services to the communities they support, whoever they are and wherever they are.