Statement by the Deputy High Commissioner on World Humanitarian Day

Memorial Ceremony in remembrance of those killed in the service of human rights

19 August 2015

My dear colleagues and friends,

On this day twelve years, 22 of our co-workers were killed in an attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. High Commissioner Sergio Vieira de Mello was among the OHCHR staff who were killed. Like the other men and women who died that day – and like the thousands of other humanitarian workers who have been killed in the course of their work since that attack – he had chosen a life of principled action, to help others attain what should be theirs by right: freedom from want and from fear.

These men and women were convinced that all human lives are connected to each other, and that each life matters. As humanitarian workers, they knew that by aligning their actions with their deeply held values, they would set out on a path that would be passionately interesting, challenging and rewarding in ways that few other professions could equal. It was their hope – and it still is our hope – that their work would enrich and improve the lives of many people. To that end, they endured hardships, personal sacrifices, the constant challenge of witnessing appalling suffering, and great danger.

In my career, my 30-plus years, at the UN I have seen many transformations in the world in which we operate. One is the grim fact that, as humanitarian workers, we are no longer safe from deliberate attack. On the contrary, it seems that more and more, UN staff and other aid-workers are being targeted for violence and murder by all sides in conflict, as well as by lawless gangs. This terrible reality – which was brought home to us, so bitterly, 12 years ago – is something that all of us must live with now, along with our grief for those who have been killed.

And yet we continue. We continue because we are dedicated to the goals of our United Nations, and to the rights of all human beings, everywhere. And so we commit our working lives, and much of our lives beyond work, to the search for justice, freedom, human dignity and the embrace of human diversity, and the safety of all.

Today we mourn colleagues from OHCHR, and all others who have lost their lives in the course of humanitarian work. We honour their courage and their choices. They chose a life of hardship, danger and personal sacrifice in order to help others. Their work enriched our world. And as we pay tribute to these fallen colleagues, and to their bereaved families, we also celebrate all those who continue to be dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights, everywhere. We know that our work is essential, and deeply meaningful. That is our reward.