World Humanitarian Day – 19 August 2015

Every year on 19 August, World Humanitarian Day recognises those who face danger and adversity to help others and celebrates the spirit that inspires humanitarian work around the world.

The date was chosen to mark the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 people.

“Attacks on aid workers declined last year, but were still the second-highest on record,” reports a recent news story by IRIN, an independent news and analysis service.

“There were 190 major attacks against aid operations in 2014, down from 264 in 2013,” IRIN says, quoting a report by the Humanitarian Outcomes research group.

According to Humanitarian Outcomes partner Abby Stoddard, the good news that aid worker attacks were down in 2014 should be taken cautiously.

Stoddard points out that in a “few extremely insecure humanitarian contexts, the risk to aid workers is still very high which, as a result, is reducing people’s access to international aid.”

IRIN news and Humanitarian Outcomes have created an online interactive map tracking attacks on aid workers over the last 15 years. 

This year’s campaign to mark World Humanitarian Day aims to inspire and empower people around the world to get involved, take action and stay engaged in creating a more humane world. 

The focus of the campaign will be on telling the stories of extraordinary resilience behind today’s humanitarian crises. 

The #ShareHumanity global campaign aims to enable celebrities, influencers and the general public to use the power of their social media profiles to amplify humanitarian stories of survival, resilience and hope. And in so doing, inspire the world to take action.

You can show your support for World Humanitarian Day by:

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