It was August 19th, 2003 in Iraq. There was a UN press conference at Canal Hotel, which was the headquarters at that time. At two-thirty pm everything was normal; people were eating in the canteen and using its free wifi. It was seemingly a good day; the special representative was happy that the Iraqis were allowed to approach the United Nation’s headquarters unlike at the green zones, said a waitress at the hotel. That all changed by four-thirty pm; recounts Roy Stewart, a witness to the tragic event. That day twenty-three people were killed, and over one hundred people were injured in the Canal Hotel Bombing. A suicide bomber was driving a truck, it blew up right underneath the UN special representative for Iraq’s office. After the bomb went off, instantly killing at least seven known victims. There were enormous columns of smoke looming over the building. Shock waves were felt for over a mile around the hotel. The hotel itself was in ruins. There was a gaping hole in the building and rubble scattered across the ground crushing people. People were running in panic everywhere. It was a devastating sight. This catastrophic event caused the UN to pull out over six hundred UN staff members from Iraq. The bombing was targeting the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, it was created just five days earlier to help support national development efforts by the government.
Out of the many dead, one was Sérgio Vieira de Mello. He was trapped in debris for over three hours as others tried to help him get out, till at last, he succumbed. He was the UN high commissioner for human rights and UN special representative for Iraq. It was likely that he was going to become the UN secretary-general, however, his path was tragically cut short. When the party guilty for the bomb, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of terrorist organization Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad was asked, they claimed that de Mello was specifically targeted as he had aided East Timor to become an independent state. Sérgio Vieira de Mello was killed trying to make the world a better place. He was killed because a terrorist organization labeled him a criminal for setting East Timor free from the clutches of an Islamic Caliphate.
On the day of his death, August 19th, world humanitarian day is celebrated internationally for those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes. August 19th was pronounced World Humanitarian Day on December 11th, 2008 after the United Nations General Assembly took a revolutionary turn. The UN had voted to adopt Sweden’s sponsored resolution, GA Resolution A/63/139 on the Strengthening of the Coordination of Emergency Assistance of the United Nations. This was only due to the persistence of the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Foundation and his family who steered the way, along with the help of the ambassadors of many nations such as Japan, France, and many others. This resolution stated that all humanitarian and personnel associated with the United Nations that have worked to promote humanitarian causes would be recognized on that day. This included those who have lost their lives on duty. The UN urged international organizations and non-governmental organizations to celebrate and honor humanitarians. The first World humanitarian day was celebrated on August 19th, 2009
World Humanitarian day should be celebrated to acknowledge those who have worked and are working to make our world a better place. Those people who are on the ground actively changing the world we know it. The ones that help during the aftermaths of a natural disaster, or the people who volunteer in famine-stricken countries. The people whose work is not documented on television. Humanitarians do not work for money, they work for the people. Their objective is to save lives, to mitigate suffering, to maintain human dignity, to make people’s lives better, to promote peaceful co-existence of diverse communities divided by generations of resentment, and more. Humanitarians are often the salvation for many people. They are the light in their dark world.
Humanitarians do so much for the world, but there will always be people who are unhappy and lash out at them. Just a little over a month after the Canal Hotel bombing, on September 22nd, 2003 was a second bombing near the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq. One person was killed and nineteen others were injured. The sacrifices made by humanitarians will not be in vain. Their work will not be forgotten. They will be remembered and celebrated every year on World Humanitarian Day.
Authored by
Saanvi Tripuramallu
