UN Geneva Director-General: Humanitarians being tested like never before
In a poignant ceremony involving wreath laying, candle lighting, a minute of silence and moving personal testimony, the United Nations Office at Geneva today commemorated World Humanitarian Day 2021, paying tribute to UN staff who have lost their lives in humanitarian service and honouring aid workers across the world.
The commemoration also marks the day 18 years ago when 22 colleagues were killed at the United Nations Office in Baghdad.
“In a matter of seconds, Jean-Sélim and 21 other colleagues and friends had crashed under a pile of rubble,” said Laura Dolci, widow of Jean-Sélim Kanaan, who died in Iraq. “That horrific deflagration, ignited by two tons and a half of TNT, mercilessly wiped off their lives, their aspirations and talents. Their families were amputated without appeal.”
Time is running out
Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, said the list of attacks against staff of the United Nations has grown exponentially over the years. She said in 2020 alone, 475 humanitarian aid workers were attacked and 108 aid workers were killed.
Recalling the humanitarian crises unfolding in places like Afghanistan and Haiti, she said humanitarians were being tested like never before. The Covid-19 pandemic and climate emergencies were also leading to famine, drought, and devastating forest fires, on a scale the humanitarian community was having difficulty managing.
“Time is running out for the world’s most vulnerable people – those who have contributed least to the global climate emergency, yet are hit hardest – and millions of other people have lost their homes, their livelihoods or their lives,” she said.
Shared values
Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said it was important to honour the legacy of fallen colleagues by living up to their example.
“By standing up for the universal values of human rights. By continuing their work, and by renewing the fellowship which binds us together as a community, with shared values. By caring for one another and supporting those in particular distress.”
Ms. Dolci, whose son was 26 days old when his Father died in Baghdad, spoke of how her family story had crossed that of many others over the past years.
“We have all endured excruciating grief, trauma, loneliness and a sense of profound injustice. Life forced us to go on, to take new steps, to venture on new travels and new jobs, to heal our wounds and learn to laugh again. Every 19 August, however, the pain resurfaces as raw as on that Tuesday, 18 years that feel like yesterday.”
She exhorted the United Nations to further improve the way support was provided to surviving staff and victims’ families in need, in the immediate aftermath of an attack, but also in the longer term.
High-Commissioner Bachelet added the United Nations had a duty to take care of its colleagues, as it asked them to give the best of themselves. “We cannot guard against difficulties and trauma – especially not in our profession. But we can endeavour to respond more professionally to it, improving as a result, and support each other along the way.”
The hybrid commemoration ceremony was held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva in front of two plaques engraved with the names of the 22 United Nations staff lost in the suicide bombing of the Canal Hotel in Baghdad in 2003, and those of 17 colleagues killed in a terrorist act in Algiers on 11 December 2007. The tattered remains of the United Nations flag damaged during the attack in Algiers are also mounted on the wall. The wreath laying and candle lighting took place on a table in front of the flag.
This year, World Humanitarian Day is promoting a global campaign #TheHumanRace, which aims to get the world racing against the climate crisis clock ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November. Together with sport celebrities, the United Nations is encouraging the world to run, walk, swim, row or cycle for climate change.