World Humanitarian Day is a day dedicated to celebrate and recognize humanitarian work around the globe. Initially established by the UN General Assembly in 2008, and first observed one year thereafter, it is held annually on August 19th, coinciding with the anniversary of the 2003 terrorist attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq.

Today, we are celebrating the 7th World Humanitarian Day, a time to recognize and increase general public awareness of humanitarian activities. A day to honour the work of humanitarians worldwide has become of increased importance, seeing as the total number of people in need of humanitarian help has drastically risen over the past decade.

This day also underlines the importance of international cooperation in meeting humanitarian needs around the world, highlighting the demand to do more, as humanitarian crises continue to grow.

The theme of this year’s WHD is to “Inspire the World’s Humanity”, and is aided by the #ShareHumanity digital campaign, aiming at mobilizing a larger and more active citizenship through social media, at a time at which the world is ever more digitally connected.

More on the World Humanitarian Day may be found here: http://www.worldhumanitarianday.org/