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Dubai joins the world in honouring aid workers

Dubai - World Humanitarian Day sheds light on perils of aid work.

Dubai joined the global community in celebrating the selfless work of aid workers and volunteers around the globe on World Humanitarian Day, observed on Wednesday.
The emirate has seen an event at the Dubai Mall, attended by representatives of government agencies and members of the United Nations. The World Humanitarian Day was launched by the United Nations in 2008 to raise public awareness of humanitarian efforts being carried out around the world, and to bring a public spotlight on the dangers faced by aid workers operating in dangerous environments.
"Between 2014 and 2015, the fires of war have spread to many countries across the world. Therefore, there are victims of these wars, and in many cases those victims are under fire and still need to survive," said Mohammed Abu Asaker, Public and Communications Officer for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in the UAE.
"Humanitarian workers are there in the field to provide life-saving assistance to those people, and in many cases, those humanitarian workers sacrifice themselves to reach out to the people to provide assistance to those people.
"We are here today to glorify the souls of all those humanitarian workers who put their lives at risk to reach out and provide life to the victims of wars," he added.
People around the world celebrated the event by tweeting humanitarian stories with the hashtag #ShareHumanity. By late afternoon, a total of 130,985 people had participated, including a number of celebrities. Among the participants in Dubai were members of Dubai Police and local government.
Abu Asaker added that the day was particularly relevant to the Middle East. "Unfortunately, and sadly, over time we've seen conflict and violence growing, especially in the Middle East and North Africa," he said.
"The Middle East became the region that produces the most refugees and IDP (internally displaced people) globally. Today we are talking about an unprecedented number of over 60 million people.in the world who need humanitarian assistance."
To support them Abu Asaker called on the people of the UAE to donate to humanitarian organisations. "Over the last several years we have seen a shortage of funding." As an example, Abu Asaker noted that the UN has so far fallen nearly 70 per cent short of its yearly funding goal to help victims of the conflict in Syria.
"Only a third of the funding has been received, over eight months since we made the appeal," he said. "If these slow donations continue, people in need will suffer a lot.
"We call on everybody to donate online, to any organisation" he added. "Any penny, any dollar will make a difference in refugee's lives. It's the responsibility of everybody to make a difference."
bernd@khaleejtimes.com