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Referring to the 15th anniversary of an attack on the UN office in Baghdad that killed 22 staff, the Secretary General said, 'Since that tragedy, which led to this day’s designation as World Humanitarian Day, over 4,000 aid workers have been killed, injured, detained or kidnapped. That is an average of 300 fellow humanitarians killed, detained or injured every year.'
The date 19 August has been designated as the World Humanitarian Day to commemorate people affected by humanitarian crises and the humanitarian workers who help them.
'Civilians in conflict zones also continue to be killed and maimed, deliberately or in indiscriminate attacks,' he said in a message published by the UN Information Center (UNIC) in Tehran.
Guterres also noted that the UN recorded more than 26,000 casualties in six war-torn countries, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen.
'Around the world, conflict is forcing record numbers of people from their homes, with over 65 million people now displaced. Children are recruited by armed groups and used to fight. Women are abused and humiliated. As humanitarian workers deliver aid and medical workers provide for those in need, they are all too often targeted or treated as threats,' the UN Chief said.
'On World Humanitarian Day, I call on global leaders to do everything in their power to protect people caught up in conflict.'
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