‘People Helping People Saves Lives,’ Secretary-General Says, Marking World

 

Humanitarian Day with Call to Help End Suffering in Horn of Africa

 

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks for World Humanitarian Day, in New York today, 19 August:

Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and my distinguished colleague Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and also Tony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund).

Today — World Humanitarian Day; this is a celebration.  A celebration of men and women around the world who have decided to dedicate their lives to helping others.  People with drive and talent, who could have chosen any other path in life and succeeded.  Yet they chose to help.

Their decision shows us a glimpse of a better world — where people help people, no matter who they are, where they are from, or what they believe.

They are showing us it works in Somalia, as they battle the worst famine in decades.  They are showing us in Libya, as they help people trying to survive war.  They are showing us in Pakistan, as millions struggle to rebuild after devastating floods.  They are showing us in Haiti, more than a year after a terrible earthquake.

In every one of these places, and many more, we see the reality:  that people helping people saves lives, and provides hope for a better future.

Aid workers are, above all, people — dedicated, driven, full of life, but all the same, people.  They are young, and they are old.  They are women, and men.  They come from all over the world.

When crisis calls, humanitarians pack their bags and get to work.  Aid workers are professionals who see problems, decide how to overcome them, and take action.

World Humanitarian Day is a true celebration of what ordinary people with extraordinary dreams can do.  But it is also a remembrance.  On this day, we pay tribute to the aid workers who have given their lives to help others.

In Afghanistan, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Those who were killed, injured, kidnapped, got sick, or suffered mental trauma.  We also honour their families — and their sacrifice.  Mothers, fathers, partners, children.  We owe them our deepest gratitude.

So let us use today, World Humanitarian Day, to examine our own lives.  To ask what more we can do to help.  To reach out to people facing disaster and hardship.

At this time, of course, our eyes and hearts are fixed on the people of the Horn of Africa.  Famine has spread.  Tens of thousands of people have died.  Millions are struggling to survive.  Humanitarians are on the ground, saving lives.  But we are still not reaching all the people who need our help, and the crisis has still not peaked.

I thank many donors for their generous pledges.  But we still need over a billion dollars for our life-saving aid operations.

World Humanitarian Day should prompt all partners to give — and give more — to end the suffering.  Governments, civic groups and ordinary citizens can each make a difference.  Together, we can rescue a generation of people in the Horn of Africa and help secure their future.

In a moment, we will launch the official theme tune to World Humanitarian Day — sung so beautifully by Ziggy Marley, Sweet Rush and Salman Ahmad.  Thank you very much for your contribution.

It asks what would happen if we could change the world today.

The humanitarians we honour are working to make that dream real.

Let them inspire all of us to do the same.  And I thank you very much for your commitment.

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For information media • not an official record