World Humanitarian Day 2026 - UN Geneva Commemoration

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, thank you very much for being with us today for this 2026 commemoration of World Humanitarian Day. I'd like to welcome you to the Palais des Nations. This is a new setting also for us, but it's important that wherever we do it, we do this commemoration every year to honour the dedicated workers who provided life-saving aid to millions in needs. The ceremony is in English, but I'd like to also welcome very much those who are following us from home as this ceremony is webcast live on our channels. 19th of August, as we all know, has not been chosen by hazard, by the General Assembly. Today, In 2003, the attack against the UN compound in Baghdad killed so many of our colleagues, and I'd like to recognize the families that are here with us today. This violence has continued during the years. We all know that every year, humanitarian workers make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. This year, we have just received the data of the aid worker security database, which recorded in 2025 another grim record of violence against aid workers with 907 colleagues killed, injured, or kidnapped. Therefore, I think it's very, very important that today we remember and honour all these colleagues. And to start this ceremony, I would like to invite the Director General of the UN Office at Geneva and Ms. Gemma Connell, Officer in Charge of the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, to come and lay a bouquet of flowers in honour of our colleagues. I would now like to invite Mrs. Awadabo, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Laura Johnson, Executive Secretary of the Staff Council, to come and together with the Director General, Ms. Connell, light the candles. I would like to ask now the representatives of the survivors and families of the victims of the attack of the UN of- to the UN office in Baghdad and others to pay tribute to their loved ones by laying flowers on the table. I would now like to invite the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva to come and also lay flowers at the table. Thank you very much. I would like now to ask all our colleagues to return to their seats, and I'd like to invite the Director General to come and deliver her remarks from the rostrum. Director General.

Dear humanitarian workers, dear survivors of attacks on humanitarian personnel, dear families and friends of colleagues lost in humanitarian service, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues and friends, today we gather to commemorate World Humanitarian Day and to honor the women and men who dedicate their lives to helping others in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances. This day carries a special significance for the United Nations. On 19th August 2003, a bomb attack on the Kennel Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq killed 22 humanitarian workers, including the Special Representative for the Secretary General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Five years later, the United Nations General Assembly designated 19th August as World Humanitarian Day. As we mark this occasion, we pay tribute to humanitarian workers around the world who bring assistance, protection and hope to people affected by conflict, disaster and displacement. We also remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of humanity. Their courage, compassion and commitment embody the highest ideals of the United Nations. The damaged flag displayed here, together with two commemorative plaques, stands as a reminder of the human cost of humanitarian service. They bear witness to the attacks against the United Nations offices in Baghdad in 2003 and in Algiers in December 2007. As the plaques are currently protected during renovation works, they are represented here through images. The legacy of these colleagues and of all those who have lost their lives in service of humanity continues to inspire us. In their honour, the United Nations flags have been lowered today to half mast at the Palace de Nation and at all other duty stations. This solemn gesture reflects our collective remembrance and respect for the sacrifice of the colleagues we lost. I now invite everyone present and those joining us remotely to observe a moment of silence in their memory. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply honored and humbled to welcome to the Palais de Nation today survivors and family members of humanitarian workers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Your presence reminds us that behind every statistic is a human story of loss, courage, and resilience. My heartfelt thanks to Ms. Shabab Daher Al-Talabani, who will shortly share her testimony with us. Ladies and gentlemen, today, as we mark the 23rd anniversary of the attack on the Canal Hotel, we do so with a profound sense of concern. The dangers facing humanitarian workers continue to grow. Humanitarian personnel continue to be killed, injured, detained, and abducted in alarming numbers. last year alone at least three hundred and twenty six humanitarian workers were recorded as killed across twenty one countries. this brings the number of recorded humanitarian fatalities over the past three years to more than one thousand and ten nearly triple the number recorded during the preceding three-year period. Yet, despite these dangers, humanitarian personnel continue to serve on the frontlines of crisis around the world. Some of the most dangerous places for them are the places where they are needed most, Gaza and the West Bank, Sudan, South Sudan, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo. Their work deserves not only our gratitude, it demands our protection. International humanitarian law must be respected, humanitarian personnel must never be targeted, humanitarian access must be safe, sustained and unimpeded, and those responsible for attacks against aid workers must be held accountable. Ladies and gentlemen, World Humanitarian Day is not only a moment of remembrance, it is also a call to action. As we honour those We have lost and pay tribute to those who continue to serve despite immense challenges. Let us renew our commitment to protecting humanitarian workers and defending the principles that guide their mission. Let us reaffirm our shared responsibility to ensure that humanitarian personnel can carry out their lifesaving work safely, effectively, and with dignity. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Director-General, for your inspiring words. I would like now to invite Mr. Bahram Saleh, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to deliver his remarks. High Commissioner.

Excellencies, colleagues, friends, let me begin by acknowledging the survivors of the Canal Hotel attack. who are with us today and the families of those we lost. Your presence makes this commemoration especially meaningful, and I'm deeply, deeply honored to be here with you today. For me, 19 of August also carries a very personal memory. Few days before, I spoke to my good friend, Hassan Salama, and we scheduled a meeting with Sergio de Mello for the week after. This meeting was not meant to be. I remember that day and the profound sense of loss that followed. Iraq was emerging from conflict and entering a deeply uncertain period. That was so much that needed to be done and so much hope invested in what might still be possible. Sergio had come to Baghdad to help. And on 19th of August, he and 21 of his colleagues were killed for doing Precisely that. While unfortunately I never had the opportunity to meet him in person, but like so many others, I knew what he represented. He had spent his life serving in some of the world's most difficult places. He believed in the United Nations, in its responsibility to be present when people needed it most, and the ability of international service to make a difference. He embodied the very best of international civil service and leadership principles, courageous and committed to people above all. His loss was devastating and the United Nations that day changed something very profound. It exposed in the most terrible way the vulnerability of those who go into the most difficult places, not to fight a conflict, but to help people caught within it. Twenty-three years later, I think about Sergio and those we lost that day, and about all those who continue to do the same service in that very spirit. As High Commissioner for Refugees, I see every day what the courage of humanitarian workers makes possible. I see colleagues on the front lines, often far from world's attention, protecting families forced from their homes, delivering assistance, and helping people find a path towards safety and solutions. Humanitarian workers who leave their families each morning, not knowing what that day will bring. Overwhelmingly, They are national colleagues serving their own communities, often while they and their families are living through the same conflict, insecurity, and uncertainty as the people they help. People who remain when circumstances become dangerous because others are depending on them. Some never come home. The risks Sergio and his colleagues face in Baghdad have not disappeared. In too many places, humanitarian workers continue to be attacked, detained, obstructed, and killed. Humanitarian workers must be protected. International humanitarian law must be respected. And when they are attacked, there must be accountability. Today we remember Sergio and 21 other killed at the Canal Hotel. We remember every humanitarian worker who has lost their lives in the service of others. And we stand with the survivors and with the families and colleagues who continue to carry that loss. I never had that meeting with Sergio in Baghdad. But 23 years later, what he represented remains as important as ever. A belief in service, in principled leadership, and in the responsibility to be present when people need us most. Humanitarian workers around the world continue that work every day. Our responsibility is to ensure that they do not pay for it with their lives. Thank you.

Thank you very much, High Commissioner. Thanks for your remarks. And I would like now to invite Mrs. Awa Dabo, Deputy High Commissioner, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to deliver her remarks, Madam.

Your Excellencies, dear colleagues, dear friends, good afternoon. It is indeed an honor to join you for this commemoration of our colleagues, our friends, and our family members killed in Baghdad 23 years ago today. And to pay tribute to the thousands of humanitarian workers around the world who dedicate their lives to serving people in need, sometimes at great danger to their lives and to their health. Most of these people are local staff committed to supporting their own communities. Human rights are central to humanitarian work. They are the most important tool in preventing humanitarian crises from emerging and the best means of mitigating and ending them. When human rights are respected, we can avoid the terrible conditions and situations that lead to the tremendous civilian suffering. Upholding human rights helps to reduce the risks and the dangers to aid workers. But in recent years, respect for human rights and humanitarian law in conflict zones is being undermined. There is a clear breakdown of the values, the systems, and the norms that were agreed by all countries to protect all civilians in war. We see the results in unacceptable civilian casualties and the large numbers of people on the move fleeing conflict and violence. We see the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs around the world, and in the rising number of aid workers killed and attacked, including our own UN staff. In some cases, attacks on aid workers could amount to war crimes, or even crimes against humanity. And far too often, these attacks are going unpunished. The international community has a responsibility. All countries need to redouble their efforts to pursue accountability for violence against humanitarian aid workers. A climate of impunity is fueling the violence with devastating consequences for aid workers, for their friends, and for their loved ones, and for those who depend on their very essential work. Families are left without aid, children go without food, patients are unable to access healthcare, and others are placed in harm's way. We need to bring those responsible to justice. We need to ensure lifesaving aid reaches all of those in need. And on World Humanitarian Day and every day, we need to protect those who work to protect all of us. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Deputy High Commissioner. I'd like now to invite His Excellency Mr. Sa'eed Barzani, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq, to deliver his remarks. Ambassador.

Excellencies, families and colleagues of the victims, ladies and gentlemen, today, the 19th of August, we observe the World Humanitarian Day. It is a day to honor those who have lost their lives in the service of others, to stand in solidarity with the victims of terror, and pay tribute to the courage and resilience of those who have survived. Today, we come together in particular to remember the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad in which 22 humanitarian workers lost their lives, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, whom I had the privilege of meeting in Iraq before this tragic event. This unprecedented terrorist attack against the United Nations, which occurred 23 years ago, was a grim warning of a devastating violence that would shake Iraq for the next 15 years. This strategy sought to extinguish hope and to convince the Iraqi people that their aspiration for freedom and dignity were nothing but a dream, and that dictatorship was the only possible form of government. The symbolism of this massacre of innocent people was profound. Those responsible understood that the true alternative to war and terrorism are dialogue, diplomacy, and humanitarian action. By attacking the United Nations headquarters, they sought to demonstrate that blind violence could prevail over humanism and peace. Yet the resilience of the Iraqi people, together with the courage and the sacrifices of the international humanitarian workers, ultimately helped pave the way toward peace and the triumph of hope over darkness. Tragically, on the same day and the same date six years later, on the 19th of August, 2009, terrorists once again sought to strike at dialogue and diplomacy, using the same method against the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad. 49 of our colleagues were killed and about 500 others were wounded. Our response to such violence must always be one of resolve. Humanity must continue, particularly through multilateral action, to assist victims, build bridges between people and cultures, and ensure that those who perpetrate these heinous crimes as well as those who instigate them are held accountable, whoever they may be. This requires greater international cooperation and an unwavering commitment to dialogue, diplomacy and the principle of humanity. Finally, today we share in the grief of the families and friends of the victims while paying tribute to the survivors and all those who continue to serve humanity, often at great personal risks. May the soul of Sergio Vieira de Mello and his colleagues rest in peace. Their immense sacrifice remind us that even in the darkest moment, humanity can rise again. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. Mrs. Shabo Taher Al-Talabani, you are a survivor of the 19 August 2003 terrorist attack. against the UN offices in Baghdad, and you are also a former staff member who served with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for nearly 24 years. You have accepted to give your testimony, and we thank you. Please.

Excellencies, colleagues, and friends, following Security Council Resolution 1483, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq. He arrived in Baghdad with his team on 1st June, 2003. From the very beginning, Sergio and his team maintained an open-door policy. They listened to the concerns of Iraqi people, understood their hopes, and worked tirelessly to support the country, the country's future, during one of its most difficult moments. The 19 August began as an ordinary day. As usual, it was very hot. We left our modest hotels in blue UN transit vans and made our way through the crowded streets of Baghdad to Canal Hotel, which served as our headquarters. We settled into our daily routine. Rick Cooper arrived despite another sleepless night, determined to complete his important reports. Sergio Vieira de Mello and his senior political advisor, Hassan Salameh, moved between individual and shared meetings and discussions. Their serious conversations often punctuated by jokes and bursts of laughter. Nadia Younis walked through the crowded corridor. Her latest instruction accompanied by her elegant smile. Raad Al-Mahdawi from our IT team and his colleagues hurried from office to office, solving the technical problems that kept the mission running. Saad Abuna met his familiar rounds with a tray of coffee, offering quiet kindness to colleagues and visitors alike. John Salim Kanaan showed photographs of his three weeks old son, Matias Salim, before rushing off to his next meeting. None of us knew that everything was about to change. Then just minutes before 4:30, PM, a deafening explosion tore through the building. Glass flew every direction. Ceilings collapsed. The Canal Hotel shook violently. Then came an eerie silence, broken only by muffled cries, scattered moans, and desperate calls for help. That evening, some of us returned to our hotels, overwhelmed by grief, waiting anxiously to see which familiar faces would appear and those who never would. Sergio, John Salim, Nadia, Saad, Raad, Rick, And 16 colleagues, Alia, Arthur, Ehsan, Christopher, Omar, Ranilo, Manuel, Riza, Khidr, Lynn, Gillian, Reham, Emad, Marta, Fiona, and Bassem lost their lives that day. More than 180 international and national staff members were injured. Many endured years of surgeries, treatment, and rehabilitation. For some, that journey continue even today, 23 years later. Whether they were international or national staff or local contractors, they shared one common purpose. They believed deeply in the principles of the UN and in the future of Iraq. They came to serve others. In the aftermath of the attack, international staff were evacuated, while many Iraqi colleagues remained behind. Some felt abandoned. Many became targets simply because their association with the United Nations and endured years of insecurity and hardship. Only a few were fortunate enough to continue their service in another UN missions, often equally dangerous conflict zones. The loss of our colleagues in Baghdad and of all those who have since or before 2003 given their lives while servicing the UN around the world was never simply another tragedy. or another list of names added to our memorials. It was deeply personal. Voices had filled our offices, our meetings, our daily lives were suddenly silenced. Colleagues became memories. Friends became names engraved in stone. Each of them carried out demanding responsibilities, not merely as a professional duties, but as a profound moral commitment to the principles upon which this organization was founded. Justice, human rights, respects for human dignity, the peaceful settlement of disputes, sovereign equality among nations, international cooperation and pursuit, and the pursuit of peace through dialogue rather than force. Their sacrifice is not only a remembrance of the past, it is a call to action. The UN must continue to structurally transform and strengthen its policies, support systems, and security measures to better protect those who serve in dangerous environment across the world. No mandate can be fulfilled, no resolution implemented, and no peace sustained without the courage and dedication of the women and men who willingly accept extraordinary risks in the service of humanity. For our memorial to be truly worthy of those we honor, remembrance must be accompanied by accountability and reparation. Twenty-three years after the attack, we are still waiting for the organization to release the full investigation report. Families, survivors, and colleagues deserve the truth, not a partial truth, not a delayed truth, but the full truth. Accountability honors the fallen as surely as remembrance does. We also call upon Member States to renew not only their commitment to the United Nations, but also their commitments to peace itself. The women and men who serve under the UN flag are your citizens. They do not choose the conflict into which they are deployed. They go because member states have asked them, have asked this organization to act where diplomacy has failed, where war has displaced families, where humanitarian crises have unfolded and where hope must be preserved. They carry out the mandate that you have negotiated and adopted. With these mandates comes shared responsibility. Member states bear the primary responsibility under the charter to prevent conflict, to pursue the peaceful settlement of dispute, to uphold international law, and to protect those who serve in the cause of peace. When these responsibilities are neglected, it's often UN personnel who bear the consequences. Peace is not the responsibility of those who risks their life to uphold it alone. It's first the responsibility of those with the authority to preserve it. Honoring our fallen colleague requires more than words of remembrance. It requires the political courage to prevent future tragedies. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the principles for which they served: peace, justice, human dignity, and hope. May our colleagues, our friends, and our loved ones rest in peace. Their memory is more than our responsibility. It's our obligation. Their sacrifice must never be forgotten. Their legacy will continue to guide us. Thank you.

Mrs. Taher Al-Talabani, thank you so much for sharing your testimony with us and for your appeal to accountability. I'd like now to invite Mrs. Laura Johnson, Executive Secretary of the UNOG Staff Union, to deliver her remarks. Laura.

I might have said this last year, but I'm going to repeat. Being asked to deliver remarks on this day is the greatest honor that I've had as a staff representative because I'm so truly proud to represent humanitarian workers, human rights officers, and other staff performing such essential work across the world. Something that I'm very saddened to repeat, however, is that yet again, last year was one of the deadliest years on record for humanitarians. As a UN staff member who believes in the organization, it's also very disappointing to have to read that the trend is increasingly that the threat to humanitarians comes from state actors, and that so far, member states and international organizations have not been able to come together to prevent this using the type of diplomacy and international action that the UN was founded for. I'd like to pay special tribute to my colleagues in Gaza, which remained the most dangerous place to work for humanitarians, and particularly the national staff. I was struck when reading the report on the threats faced by humanitarians over the past year that almost all humanitarians who lost their lives were nationals of the countries where they were killed. The UN has often struggled to protect its national staff, and we will need to do better. Something else that's continued over the past year is that while humanitarian assistance is as necessary as ever, more necessary than ever, the funding has decreased. It's meant that the UN hasn't been able to fulfill all its mandates, and it's meant that many colleagues from across the UN system have left the organizations in one way or another. It's my hope that we would change course, that some of that funding could be restored, and that perhaps some of those experienced colleagues with vital skills could return to the organization and begin delivering again on behalf of humanity. So I would like to call for that. In addition, as always, for stronger protection for humanitarian workers and accountability for any attacks on them. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Laura. Our last but definitely not least speaker is Mrs. Gemma Connell, Officer in Charge, Humanitarian Sector Division at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Excellencies, colleagues, friends, survivors, family members, it's the deepest honor to stand alongside you today as we mark the horrific attack on our UN colleagues in Baghdad all those years ago, an attack which sent shockwaves around the world, shockwaves that still to this day in the survivors in this room, in the loved ones in this room, but also in the UN family collectively, we are still reeling from today. Since that catastrophic day, thousands of our humanitarian colleagues have been killed in the line of service. What's worse, their deaths hardly ever even make the headlines. From the hundreds of our UN Relief and Work Agency, UNRWA, colleagues killed in Gaza, to our colleagues working in Sudan and other countries around the world. We rarely hear of the killing of aid workers, and yet we have the highest numbers being killed in recent history. The killing of our colleagues betrays a far wider erosion of the norms that should protect civilians in conflict and the daily undermining of the laws that were designed specifically to minimise the human cost of war. In a world where atrocities have been normalised and impunity reigns, attacks against aid workers are now part of the way wars are fought, not an exception to it. We should never have ended up in this place. This is not for lack of frameworks, not for lack of laws, not for lack of policies. The international humanitarian law that we all hold dear protects civilians, including aid workers. The UN Security Council has adopted a specific resolution on precisely this, and more recently, the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel, which we warmly welcome, seeks to bring these commitments to life. And yet, As you heard today, in 2025, just last year, over 900 of our humanitarian colleagues were killed, injured, or kidnapped. The vast majority of them, as we've reiterated today, working in their own communities and their own countries, from people evacuating civilians from the frontlines in Ukraine to young volunteers in the emergency response rooms of Sudan. And as we saw here again today, in the presence of family members, of survivors behind each of these statistics is a family, a family whose world has been torn apart, whose sister, husband, wife, aunt, uncle will not return home. And that goes for those killed, but also for the lifelong impact of injuries and for our colleagues who sit today in detention whose families are still waiting for them to return. One of the most alarming trends we've seen is the use of cheap, adaptable, armed drones to attack civilians and the aid workers who serve them. We're putting lethal power into ever more hands, and our colleagues are in the crosshairs. In March this year, a UNICEF colleague, Karine, was killed in a drone strike on a residential building in DRC, and in just one week, one week in May, four humanitarian convoys were hit by drones in Ukraine. The rules have not changed. International humanitarian law applies regardless of the weapons used. Civilians must be protected, humanitarian and medical personnel must be protected, and aid operations must be respected and allowed to reach the people in need. Because an attack on an aid worker is an attack on the people who we exist to serve. It deprives them of food, healthcare, protection, and hope. And right now we're striving to reach millions of people around the world. As so many have said today, statements of concern do not protect the thousands of our colleagues who are keeping humanitarian action running on the front line. Action does. We must act individually and collectively at every single level to demand that attacks against aid workers end and that parties are held to account wherever they occur. We thank the group of friends who are working with determination to uphold international law and take practical steps. This is needed now more than ever. Today, the UN flag will fly at half mast around the world, honouring humanitarian personnel who have lost their lives in the service of humanity. But our colleagues deserve so much more than this. They deserve to see the perpetrators of the crimes against them brought to justice. They deserve to see their families supported. And most of all, they deserve to know that their stories will live on and that those of us who remain will honor them by taking action to end the impunity that allowed them to be killed. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Tamah, for these remarks. Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, this brings us to the end of our ceremony of today. I would like, of course, to thank security and all the colleagues who have helped bringing together this event and the cameramen who have been helping us bringing it outside the walls of the palace. Before we conclude, I would like to inform you that the Sergio de Viera de Mayo Foundation, together with the publisher La Joie de Lire, have taken the initiative to publish a graphic book called When the World Calls, In Vie pour les autres. The book is intended for young adults, motivating them to engage in humanitarian work. And as a red line, the life of Sergio Vieira de Mello is woven throughout the book. The book will be launched just after this ceremony at the end of the corridor. So we invite you to attend the launch if you want, in the presence of the publisher, author, and cartoonist. And we thank the foundation for this. I would also like to tell to the colleagues who are here with us in person, if they wish to honor the memory of those who lost their lives, to come and light a candle and place it on the table that is located right on the right of the long table. And I would like to thank you all for attending this ceremony here at a tomb. And to leave you with the words of the Secretary General in his message on World Humanitarian Day, the world has made commitments. Now it must act to respect the rules of war, ensure safe access, hold perpetrators accountable, and provide sufficient resources. Humanitarian workers stand up for people in need. We must stand up for them. We must act for humanity. Now, thank you very much.