© 2009 OCHA

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva observes the first world humanitarian day today 19 August to coincide with the death of  Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN’s top official in Iraq who died in 2003 along with 21 others in a bomb explosion at UN headquarters in Baghdad. As headquarters of the UN in Europe, Geneva is holding an event in the Parc des Bastions this afternoon  at 17:00 which includes officials from the UN and the city and canton of Geneva. Many organizations involved in humanitarian work have set up stands to demonstrate their work, and there will be concerts of classical and jazz music.

World humanitarian day is a tribute to all the aid workers killed or injured in the line of duty around the world. It also aims to raise the awareness of the humanitarian needs around the world.

Elisabeth Byrs, chief spokeswoman of the UN OCHA, the Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva, said that more than 700 people had lost their lives in the past ten years and that, increasingly, humanitarian workers are being targeted. She told GenevaLunch that in 2008, 122 humanitarian workers had died worldwide, three times as many as the previous year. She singled out Pakistan as being particularly dangerous for humanitarian work in 2009, adding that four UN workers were killed there this year, and she went on to name Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Horn of Africa as well.

The United Nations General Assembly moved in December 2008 to designate 19 August world humanitarian day “to honor all humanitarian and the United Nations and associated personnel who have lost their lives in the cause of duty and those who have worked in the promotion of the humanitarian cause”.

Related:

• Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation
• Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, Relief Web

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