UN AGENCIES IN CROATIA MARK WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY

(Zagreb, 20 August 2010) - On occasion of World Humanitarian Day, marked yesterday, representatives of United Nations agencies in Croatia today paid tribute to colleagues who died in the service of peace and humanity under the United Nations banner.

United Nations agencies in Croatia marked World Humanitarian Day with a wreath-laying ceremony at the monument erected outside Zagreb Airport to honor UN personnel who were killed during the conflicts in former Yugoslavia in 1991-1995. World Humanitarian Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2008 as an occasion to celebrate the life-saving work carried out by humanitarian workers around the world, and also to pay tribute to colleagues in the UN family who have perished while carrying out their duties.

World Humanitarian Day takes place on the anniversary of the bombing of UN Headquarters in Baghdad seven years ago on 19 August 2003. The attack killed 22 UN staff members, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, then the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Iraq.

In Croatia, the UN team, which includes the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), remembered the 288 UN personnel, civilian and military who lost their lives in the former Yugoslavia, and also UN friends and colleagues, including Croatian citizens, who have fallen victim to violence since then.

At the same time, the UN team salutes the dedication of those who pursue humanitarian work despite the risks. Although humanitarian aid functions on the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence and should enjoy the protection of all parties, relief activities have in recent years increasingly become targets for attack. Last year, 102 humanitarian workers lost their lives, compared with 30 deaths among aid workers in 1999. Since 1948, 2,820 UN civilian and military staff have died in the service of peace and humanity.

Globally, the humanitarian community has prepared publicity and information materials, including a 4-minute film and public service announcements, available at http://www.worldhumanitarianday.info