"We mark World Humanitarian Day every year on 19 August, to express solidarity with people affected by humanitarian crises and pay tribute to the humanitarian workers who help them," stated UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday.
"This year's commemoration marks the fifteenth anniversary since the attack on the United Nations in Baghdad, Iraq, in which 22 of our colleagues were killed," he added.
Since that date, more than 4,000 humanitarian workers have been kidnapped, detained, injured or killed.
"As humanitarian workers deliver aid and medical workers provide for those in need, they are all too often targeted or treated as threats," Guterres said.
Iraq was among the top six countries last year with the most civilian casualties. The UN recorded 26,000 civilians killed in conflict zones.
The other countries included Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Over 65 million people are now displaced globally due to conflict which forced a record number of people to flee their homes.
He called on global leaders to do everything in their power to protect those caught up in conflict and to join the #NotATarget campaign for civilians in these conflict zones.
"Together, we stand in solidarity with civilians in conflict, and with the humanitarian workers who risk their lives to help them," he said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also joined the #NotATarget movement and echoed UN's call to demand that world leaders protect "all civilians and healthcare workers in conflict."
"Some countries have alarmingly high number of attacks in a short period," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, director-general of WHO.
According to data collected by WHO via the Surveillance System on Attacks on Health Care, during the first half of 2018, 107 people were killed following 354 attacks on health care facilities or ambulances within five countries, which is already higher than attacks last year.
Iraq was also included in the five countries in which WHO operates where most attacks happened, as well as Syria, Afghanistan, Libya and the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"Health is a fundamental human right, and attacks on health care are a blatant violation of that right." Ghebreyesus said. "Attacks on healthcare are a breach of international humanitarian law and can constitute a war crime."
"World Humanitarian Day is an opportunity to remind everyone that healthcare is not a target," he added. "We repeat our call for the principal of medical neutrality to be respected by all parties to conflict, everywhere."
"Attacks on healthcare are attacks on humanity."
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via Defense News
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