World Humanitarian Day is celebrated every year on August 19. The day is recognized globally to pay tribute and homage to the brave hearts who leave no stone unturned to come forward and work towards a humanitarian cause and also to all the aid and health workers who volunteer to help victims of disasters and crises against all odds. The day aims to spread awareness about the need for humanitarian assistance worldwide. The UN hopes that the day will serve as a reminder to people of the risk taken by some to save lives and support humanitarian causes.

This year WHD 2022 will be celebrated in India and worldwide today i.e, Friday 19^th August. We mark World Humanitarian Day as the world is grappling with ailments like monkeypox, countries reeling under unprecedented financial crisis, wars, and many other issues.

Amidst all mayhem, the aid workers have again stepped up for the service of people.

The humanitarian day was first observed in memory of the August 19, 2003 bombing of Canal Hotel, Baghdad in Iraq which killed 22 persons including the chief humanitarian in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

To pay tributes and recognize the efforts of people who risk their lives for humanitarian causes, in 2009, the United Nations General Assembly formalized the day as World Humanitarian Day.

Theme for 2022

This year, the UN has decided to honour the aid workers using digital art. “For this year’s WHD, we will use digital art to tell the stories of people in need and those who help them. At the centre of the campaign is a series of beautifully illustrated aid worker profiles that show the breadth and depth of humanitarian work and collectively symbolize the wider humanitarian village,” as mentioned on their website.

The concept of WHD is actually based on a famous saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” According to the UN, “It takes a village to support a person in a humanitarian crisis.” With record-high humanitarian needs around the world, this year’s WHD builds on this metaphor of collective endeavour to grow global appreciation of humanitarian work.

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