World Humanitarian Day and Its Significance

World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is a day devoted to humanitarians globally, as well as to exaggerating public understanding of humanitarian assistance undertakings. The day aims to honor humanitarian workers who have lost their lives or injured themselves in the course of their work and to acknowledge the ongoing work of humanitarian staff around the world.

This year the day is focusing on the sentence "It takes a village". There is a saying that goes: It takes a village to raise a child. Similarly, it takes a village to support a person in a humanitarian crisis.

The day is observed to pay homage to people who sacrificed their lives despite the odds and continue to provide protection and life-saving support to people in need. This day was nominated in memory of the 19 August 2003 bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 22 people, including the chief humanitarian in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly formalized the day as World Humanitarian Day.

Many communities and organizations try to embellish the importance of humanitarianism by distributing publicity and information material. Humanitarians constitute a large number of people who risk their lives to support numerous humanitarians causes and save other people. They are considered to be the people who are the first to respond to such world crises and the last ones to leave.

Humanitarian worker plays an integral role in confining the impact, suffering, and loss of life caused by crises. Humanitarian actors set up and run a range of projects aimed at meeting people’s basic needs and assisting recovery. By assisting people in the utmost need, international aid workers help all of society become more civilized and human.