UITED NATIONS, Aug 19 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday paid glowing tributes to humanitarian aid workers for their “determined and life-saving efforts” across the world, in a message marking World Humanitarian Day.
“On this World Humanitarian Day, we salute the courage and dedication of humanitarian aid workers everywhere,” he said on the day that marks the 20th anniversary of the deadly attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, killing 22 UN personnel, including Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello.
More than 150 people were injured in that attack, mainly local and international aid workers helping reconstruct the country following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
“That tragedy marked a change in the way humanitarians operate,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message.
He noted that although humanitarians are respected around the world, they may also be targeted by people seeking to harm them.
This year, the UN and partners said they are aiming to reach 250 million people worldwide affected by conflict and other crises, or 10 times more than at the time of the Canal Hotel bombing, and amid a shortfall in humanitarian funding.
“As crises multiply, it is unacceptable that humanitarians are being forced to reduce aid to millions of people in need,” the Secretary-General said.
The risks that humanitarians face have also multiplied, he added, citing rising geopolitical tensions, blatant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law, deliberate assault and disinformation campaigns.
Last year, 444 aid workers fell victim to violence in 235 separate attacks. Of that number, 116 were killed, 143 were injured and 185 were kidnapped. Most were national staff working with non-governmental organizations.
“World Humanitarian Day and the Canal Hotel bombing will always be an occasion of mixed and still raw emotions for me and many others,” the UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, said earlier this week.
Griffiths and the UN’s head of Safety and Security, Gilles Michaud, have published an op-ed that calls for “protecting the people who protect the world”.
They said the Canal Hotel bombing “triggered an urgent review of the UN’s security arrangements”.
An independent panel, established in the wake of the tragedy, recognized the need for new approaches that would ensure “an acceptable balance between operational objectives and staff security in high-risk environments,” they recalled.
“The Panel recommended investment in a new, adequately financed UN security management system with the highest levels of professionalism, expertise, and accountability at its core,” they added.
“As a result, in 2005, the United Nations Department of Safety and Security, or UNDSS, was created, mandated to lead a collective approach to UN security.”
The UN officials highlighted the need for humanitarians to be able to safely access affected populations, saying that “security approaches must listen to and be attuned to local dynamics and sensitivities.”
They called for greater international support, including educating warring parties on their obligations to respect, protect and provide support to aid workers.
“It means demanding, clearly and unequivocally, an end to direct or indiscriminate attacks on civilians, non-combatants, and humanitarian workers during conflicts in breach of international humanitarian law,” they said.
“And it requires us to challenge the disinformation and misinformation that are increasingly putting them at risk of attack and undermining humanitarian operations.”
The op-ed also underscored the need to continue high-level diplomacy that supports humanitarian operations and access, especially in heavy conflict, as “recent experience shows that genuine agreements are possible, even when peace seems a distant possibility”.
