World Humanitarian Day

Published August 19, 2009 @ 07:35AM PT

Last year, the UN designated August 19th - the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the UN compound in Iraq - as World Humanitarian Day, in order "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."

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

"In 2008, 260 humanitarian aid workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks. This toll is the highest on record. The overall number of attacks against aid workers has risen steeply over the past three years, with an annual average almost three times higher than the previous nine years. Relative rates of attacks per numbers of aid workers in the field have also increased — by 61%." This includes 122 killed and 62 kidnapped.

So far this year, at least 81 aid workers have lost their lives. The most dangerous country to be an aid worker is Afghanistan (17 fatalities), followed by Pakistan (13 fatalities).

Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who've lost their lives, their families and colleagues. For more information on World Humanitarian Day, please see here.

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Author

Michael has worked for NGOs in Afghanistan, across east and central Africa, and Iraq. Prior to going overseas, he worked on a project providing assistance to the United Nations on the application of International Humanitarian Law to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.