Chief guest at the program Minister of Home Affairs Bhim Rawal thanked the international humanitarian community for continuous aid to tackle several disasters in Nepal and sought more help in the future. He also briefed the guests on different steps taken by the government to lessen the impact of disasters.
In a video message, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stressed on the common conviction of the humanitarian workers worldwide that one person´s suffering is everyone´s responsibility. “World Humanitarian Day is meant to shine a spotlight on people in need, to ensure they receive the assistance they deserve,” Ban said.
The day was chosen by the UN General Assembly in December last year to mark the bombing of the UN office in Iraq on August 19, 2003, that killed 22 people including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Representative of the Secretary General to Iraq.
Speaking at the program, Swiss ambassador Thomas Gass talked about the relevance of allotting a day for the humanitarian workers while Director of UNICEF South Asia Regional Office Dan Toole talked about the persona of late de Mello and his personal experiences with de Mello.
A film on de Mello was screened at the program while there were also short films on climate change, drought in Humla, internal displacement in Nepal and third-country resettlement of Bhutanese refugees.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nepal Robert Piper talked about Nepal´s humanitarian challenges of managing hunger, refugees, displaced people, women, children, water and sanitation. He also identified new humanitarian challenges of handling the increasing impact of natural disasters, climate change and the effect of global recession on foreign humanitarian aids for Nepal.
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