Organized by UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), humanitarians in the north west region of Cameroon have today August 19, 2021 gathered at the UN Common Compound in Bamenda to celebrate the World humanitarian Day. Celebrated this year under the theme Climate change and its impact on the most vulnerable people, this theme is aimed at calling for a breakthrough to slow the pace of climate change and build a resilience to protect the most vulnerable people from increasingly severe and frequent climate impact. To Antonio Guterres the UN Secretary General, this year’s edition is a “make or break year”
The United Nation have been present in the region since 2018 with nine UN agencies engaged in the humanitarian response with relentless provision of assistance to the population affected by the crisis. However, the prevailing humanitarian situation in the crisis affected regions is the main concern of humanitarians as since 2020 there has been an increase in the number of attacks against humanitarian workers in these regions. With four deaths recorded, some kidnapped, carjacking, diversion and delay of humanitarian operations the humanitarian community in the North and South West region then decided to adopt the theme “humanitarians are not the target” to advocate for the safety of aid workers in these regions as humanitarian organizations and their staff are neutral and should not be targeted
The day was also used to salute the courage and commitment of aid givers to providing relief to the affected and deprived population of the North and South West region.
The World Humanitarian Day is commemorated in remembrance of 19th August 2003 bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq which killed 22 humanitarian aid workers including the UN Special Representative of the then Secretary General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Five years after this incident, the General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 19 August as the World Humanitarian Day.
Tantan Patience
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