UN Secretary General António Guterres today marked World Humanitarian Aid Day by remembering the 20th anniversary of the death of Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello, a “tragedy that changed humanitarian work.”
“World Humanitarian Day (August 19) this year marks the 20th anniversary of the deadly attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad (on the same date). On that dark day, we lost 22 colleagues, including the Special Representative Sérgio Vieira de Mello”. Guterres said in an official message.
“This tragedy marked a change in the way humanitarian workers operate,” he said.
The UN leader stressed that while humanitarian workers are respected around the world, today they can also be targeted.
This year, the former Portuguese prime minister pointed out, global humanitarian operations seek to bring aid to save the lives of 250 million people in 69 countries, ten times more than at the time of the attack on the Canal Hotel.
“On this World Humanitarian Day, we salute the courage and dedication of relief workers everywhere. (…) We celebrate their unwavering dedication to serving all in need: no matter who, no matter where, no matter what. matter what,” stressed the UN leader.
The date was set precisely to commemorate the death of 22 aid workers, including Sérgio Vieira de Mello, in the bomb attack in Iraq.
Twenty years ago, while acting as the official representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Iraq, Vieira de Mello was the victim of an attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad, where he would ultimately die at the age of 55.
The Brazilian diplomat became a UN official when he was just 21 years old. He spent most of his career serving on missions for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
He has acted in humanitarian crises in Bangladesh, Sudan, Cyprus, Mozambique and Cambodia, working with refugees and in war camps, according to the UN.
He was responsible for the repatriation and reintegration of Mozambicans who left the country during the war. It was then that, at the age of 28, Vieira de Mello took over the UNHCR office in Mozambique, becoming one of the youngest UNHCR representatives operating on the ground.
Between 1999 and 2002, Sérgio Vieira de Mello headed the UN mission that accompanied East Timor’s transition to independence.
The then UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, stated that Vieira de Mello was “the right person to solve any problem”.
The Brazilian’s commitment to humanitarian causes ended up leading him to the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2002, a year before he lost his life in Iraq, in an attack claimed by the extremist organization Al Qaeda.
“The memory and legacy of Sérgio Vieira de Mello is alive in all those who dedicate their lives to humanitarian causes and in all those who cultivate values of peace, tolerance and cooperation. His story is a milestone for UNHCR, for Brazil and for the world, and the lessons his life inspires will always bring hope for a better world,” UNHCR Brazil said.
Source: TSF
