Sir, – On August 19th, 2003, the first year of the Iraq War, a deadly terrorist attack hit the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people. Among those who lost their lives was Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN’s top representative in Iraq. Five years later, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 63/139, designating August 19th as World Humanitarian Day.
Since 2009, World Humanitarian Day has evolved from a day that recognises those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes into a global campaign to advocate for the survival, wellbeing and dignity of all people affected by crises, and for the safety and security of aid workers.
This year, as the extremely volatile situation in Afghanistan continues to unfold, while on the other side of the world another devastating earthquake has hit Haiti, there is an especially tragic relevance to World Humanitarian Day.
These desperate humanitarian crises are taking place against the broader backdrop of the global Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to wreak havoc everywhere, but particularly in lower-income and largely unvaccinated nations. And we must remind ourselves that the pandemic arrived at a time of already heightened humanitarian need, driven by surging conflict and the worsening impact of the climate crisis.
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This deadly combination of conflict, climate breakdown and the Covid-19 pandemic is taking us back to world we thought we had left behind; extreme poverty has risen for the first time in 20 years, and famine – something we thought we had consigned to history – is back.
We are truly at a grave global moment but we have to focus on solutions and act now. The UN secretary general has said that 2021 is the world’s “make-or-break year”.
The choices we make now may shape the course of events for many years to come.
On a World Humanitarian Day that has come at this critical global juncture, we must do all that is in our power to secure a better future. – Yours, etc,
DOMINIC
MacSORLEY,
Chief Executive,
Concern Worldwide,
Dublin 2.