Searching For Humanitarian Heroes

Everyday humanitarian aid workers help millions of
people around the world regardless of who they are and where they are. As  the  attacks  on humanity increase, via wars terrorism, epidemics, natural  disaster, political acrimony, hostilities and the likes, the need for humanitarian aid workers increases in the same proportion. Their  role ofcourse in crisis situation makes them highly iindispensable.
On daily basis, countries  of the world intensify  their hunts for this all-important body of persons who have become so selfless  that no better word could suit their description than sacrificial lambs. A ready tool for help in crisis, humanitarian  workers’ expediency can  never be over emphasised just as their inputs remain  unquantifiable .
Yet, as the attacks on humanity increases by the day, so the  troubles of the humanitarian workers are on the rise, making them victims of unhealthy environment who end  up risking their lives, health and pleasure  for the sake of  the traumatised  but that is not my worry as many could just suffer same fate  for merely sharing  same unfortunate atmosphere.
Just yesterday, August 19,2014, the entire world rose up to yet another celebration, this time it was the world Humanitarian Day, a day set aside to recognise those who face danger and adversity in order to help others. Still the measure of recognition accorded these ones remains insignificant.
The  theme for this year’s celebration,  “The World Needs More Humanitarian Heroes,” underscores  the place of this group in the scheme of things, from Afghanistan, Central African Republic   Haiti, Iraq, Myanma, Palestine etc to Nigeria, many aid workers risk their lives on daily basis  just to save the lives and dignity of others.
According to the overseas Development institute,  a London-based research establishment,  whose findings  were released in April 2009,  in the     paper, “ providing aid in an insecure environment: 2009 update”, the most lethal year in the history of humanitarianism was 2008, in which  122 aid  workers were murdered and 260 assaulted. Countries deemed least safe were Somalia and Afghanistan while in 2012, humanitarian  outcome added  South Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan as countries with the highest incidents.
From different non-governmental organisations,  Red Cross Society/Red Crescent Movement and the UN system, the humanitarian field workers’ population has increased over the past 10  years by approximately 6% according to ALNAP, a network of agencies working in the Humanitarian System, yet, the United Nations declares that the world still beckons for more aid workers to help out in the ever increasing  hostilities around the world.
However, while it is important to reach out  for more volunteer in the humanitarian  aid field, it is more important to think ways of addressing the safety challenges  faced by these volunteers as they go about their selfless  service to humanity, a service whose worth cannot be quantified.
Although humanitarian aid workers belonging to United Nations  Organisation, PVOs or the Red Cross/Red Crescent have traditionally enjoyed both international legal  protection and defacto immunity  from  attacks by belligerent  parties,  attacks on humanitarian workers  still occasionally occur and is more  frequent in the 2009. The year 2012 recorded 167 incidents of major violence against aid workers, attributed  to increasingly unstable environment in which they work and the erosion of the perception of neutrality and independence. Kidnappings of aid workers according to report has quadrupled in the decade with more  aid workers as victims of kidnapping  than any other form of attack.
Beyond the usual  annual celebration of a phenomenon, developing  a framework  or a structure for the sustainability of same is very important. While we may not condemn  in its entirety, the practice of post-humus honours as is the practice of some governments, I think it is more honourable to recognise and reward such ones while they lived, which in a way encourages  more volunteers to belong without much ado.
However, the federal  government of Nigeria has called on Nigerians to get involved in humanitarian services to save lives, noting that rendering humanitarian  services at critical  times is capable of promoting  harmony and peaceful co-existence.
According to the commissioner, National Commission for Refugees,  Hajia Hadiza Kangiwa, the world needs more helping hands to guarantee our mutual co-existence both now and in the future, which  ofcourse is the essence of every humanitarian action.
Humanitarian  aid is simply an assistance, or action designed to save lives,  alleviate suffering as well as maintain and protect human dignity during and in the aftermath of  man-made crises and natural disasters as well as  to prevent and strengthen preparedness for the  occurrence of such situations.
What  distinguishes  humanitarian aids from other forms of assistance world over is its strict adherence to the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. Basically, humanitarian  aid  is all about saving human lives and alleviating suffering wherever it is found. It acts solely on the basis of need, without discrimination between or within affected population while  acting without favouring any side in an armed conflict or other disputes where such action  is carried out. Again, it is anchored on the autonomy  of humanitarian objectives.
Every year, United Nations celebrates World Humanitarian Day to raise public awareness of humanitarian assistance worldwide. It is  for this purpose that August 19, is declared World Humanitarian Day.

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi