World Humanitarian Day is observed in memory of the victims of
the attack on the United Nations’ headquarters in Baghdad in 2003 which caused
the deaths of 22 people, including the UN Special Representative in Iraq Sergio
Vieira de Mello.

Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International
Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, is in Iraq, where the European
Commission is providing vital assistance to hundreds of thousands of civilians
trapped by the fighting. She has made the following statement:

“World Humanitarian
Day is an occasion to pay tribute to the people who risk their lives every day
to help the victims of war and disasters around the world and an opportunity to
highlight the humanitarian challenges we are facing.

These challenges are all
too evident here in Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of people are in desperate need
of help. But reaching them is being made all the more difficult by an
escalating conflict. It’s no longer business as usual for humanitarian workers
– not here nor anywhere else.

The rising number and
the evolving nature of conflicts is making our world ever more fragile. In the
Middle East we are witnessing horrific levels of violence in which there is no
end in sight for the suffering of innocent civilians. Across Africa, from Mali
in the West to Somalia in the East, stretching across Northern Nigeria, the
Central African Republic and South Sudan, there are millions of civilians
squeezed inside a belt of conflict fuelled in part by ethnic and religious
hatred. Bringing relief and assistance to vulnerable children, women and the
elderly is becoming more and more difficult.

And these challenges are
making it more dangerous for humanitarian workers to do their jobs. The number
of attacks against them has quadrupled since 2003. Last year an average of
twelve humanitarian workers were killed and more than ten were kidnapped every
month. Every week three humanitarians were attacked and wounded.

With the combined impact
of climate change, rapid population growth in places like the Sahel and a
rising tide of extremism we will inevitably see more conflict, more hunger and
more people forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods.

We live in a world of
enormous fragility and because of this we need to focus more on the challenges
we face: for the sake of the victims of war and disasters and also for the sake
of the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to help them.“

For further information

MEMO/14/500:
World Humanitarian Day 2014: More and more violence towards humanitarians

Website of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and
Civil Protection Department (ECHO):

http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm

Website of the European Commissioner for International
Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Kristalina Georgieva:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/georgieva/index_en.htm