Today was World Humanitarian Day. August 19th was designated as World Humanitarian Day by the United Nations (U.N.). It is a day to remember humanitarians all over the world who have lost their lives while working for humanitarian causes. Think of it as Memorial Day for humanitarians.
Why August 19th? Because it was on August 19, 2003 when U.N. Special Representative in Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello from Brazil and twenty-one others were killed in the bombing of the U.N. Headquarters in Baghdad. Vieira de Mello dedicated over thirty years of his life to humanitarian causes.
As a celebration of the day, the U.N. asked people around the world to perform humanitarian acts in honor of those lost. It was put as “doing something good, somewhere, for someone else.” Suggestions on the World Humanitarian page included something as simple as helping someone with their shopping to tutoring a disadvantaged young person.
Even in this age of social media, I was greatly impressed that more than 1 billion messages (on the likes of Twitter, Facebook, etc.) were sent about World Humanitarian Day. Messages included pledges of people promising to do something to make the world a better place for someone else as well as messages from those doing good and ideas of what you could do.
Droga5 helped organize the event and its Chief Executive Andrew Essex said people should “think of it as ‘We Are The World’ for the social media generation.” Beyonce filmed a video for her song “I Was Here,” written specifically for this cause.
Despite all the messages, many areas of the world still remain a dangerous place for humanitarians. “Every day in Somalia, nongovernmental organizations and the U.N. humanitarian agencies work with the Somali people to overcome the effects of drought, hunger and conflict on innocent people,” said U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Somalia, Mark Bowden. Bowden pointed out that since last August 19th, 19 humanitarian workers in Somalia, a country is desperate need of help, have been killed. Another eight were kidnapped, with four still remaining in captivity.
So while we often hear about our military being in danger while overseas, remember that humanitarian workers are also at risk and in need of our support.