Based on the decision of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the international community has celebrated the World Humanitarian Day on 19 August of every year since 2008. This is when we remember the 22 victims of the bombing of the Baghdad headquarters of the UN on this day in 2003 as well as the generous contribution of those who provide humanitarian aid, and we also seek to draw the attention of the wider public to the current humanitarian challenges we are facing globally.
The number of people in need of humanitarian aid is increasing year after year world-wide, and the assistance they require exceeds our aid capacity and the available resources by far. At present, international organisations provide help for some 79 million people in 37 countries, and to do so, they need funding in the magnitude of USD 18.8 billion which is the largest sum ever required. Only a mere 26% of this amount was raised by the middle of this year.
The motto of this year’s series of global events organised by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is „Inspire the World’s Humanity”. During the course of this day, celebrities and widely known public figures offer the use of their social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) for 24 hours for sharing personal stories from around the world on survival, resistance and hope. OCHA is operating a separate website on the occasion of the World Humanitarian Day (www.worldhumanitarianday.org).
This year’s World Humanitarian Day is especially interesting because it also forms part of the series of programmes of the EU’s „European Year for Development” in 2015. From among the thematic months of the series of programmes organised throughout the year, August focuses on the issues of humanitarian aid which are becoming increasingly more important.
In harmony with the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid adopted by the Member States of the European Union and the principles of the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) incentive, the Hungarian Government, too, pays special attention to helping the victims of armed conflicts and natural disasters. Hungary has to date contributed to the international aid effort with tangible assets and monetary donations worth EUR 1,180,000 in total in 2015, in cooperation with international organisations and Hungarian NGOs as well as through its diplomatic missions operating in the countries concerned. Hungary assisted and continues to assist, inter alia, the response to the floods which devastated Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania, provides support for people who have been compelled to abandon their homes due to the conflict which is ongoing in Ukraine, helps with the aid effort of the Hungarian non-governmental organisations active in Eastern-Ukraine, and also contributes to the care of the refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria.
Hungary is also seeking to take a proactive stance at the UN’s humanitarian forums in New York, Geneva and elsewhere as well as within the European Union in the interest of supporting the needy. Hungary further hosts the offices of a number of international organisations; from among international humanitarian organisations, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN SPIDER) of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) have offices in Hungary.
It likewise testifies to our commitment that Hungary hosted one of the eight regional conferences on 3-4 February 2015 in preparation for the first World Humanitarian Summit to be held in Istanbul in 2016 at the initiative of the UN Secretary General. The conference was organised in cooperation with OCHA, Finland, and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG ECHO). The regional consultations are tasked with the preparation of the report of the Secretary General which contains proposals regarding humanitarian action beyond 2016 to be adopted at the summit. The report of the Secretary General will fundamentally set the agenda for the organisational and financial framework of cooperation in providing multilateral aid in the future. It will seek to resolve the problems which currently exist in the international humanitarian aid system through the involvement of new partners, the use of new technologies, and the increased involvement of the needy in the provision of aid.