On 19 August, on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day, “Armenian Red Cross Society”, was awarded certificate of acknowledgement as “Humanitarian Hero” by the UN office in Armenia at the event organized in Stepanavan city, Lori region.
This honor was also granted to “Spitak” and “Lore” Rescue Teams, “House of Hope” benevolent center, “Mission Armenia” and “Mission East”.
The UNDPI Yerevan Office, in collaboration of World Vision Stepanavan ADP and the UN Corner in Stepanavan Central Library, had organized an outreach event for high school students of Stepanavan and seven surrounding communities. High school students participating in the event were hosted by “Lore” Rescue Team as well. Under the guidance of volunteers-rescuers the students participated in some basic rescue exercises. The UNDPI Yerevan office granted special certificates of “Friends of UN – Armenia” to four most active youth groups from Agarak, Gargar, Kurtan and Vardablur communities.”
This year's World Humanitarian Day theme is "The world needs more Humanitarian Heroes". Its purpose is to evaluate and assess the efforts and achievements of the humanitarian workers of the entire world. For telling their stories, for raising the humanitarian spirit of people worldwide and for the awareness of world hot spots that extremely need humanitarian aid www.worldhumanitarianday.org website was created.
Ashot Sargsyan, the National Disaster Response Adviser for Armenia and Georgia of UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said: “The heroic staff members of humanitarian missions, who bravely move forward to help people in need, devotedly commit themselves to their work. We need to always remember and appreciate their dedicated work and not only on August 19.”
Today, more than 60 million people worldwide need humanitarian aid. Their needs are immense and ever growing. Anyone can act in the humanitarian field; even if does not work in crisis zones. This campaign aims to capture the attention of thousands of socially conscious citizens who want to make the world a better place to live.
In 2008 the UN General Assembly designated August 19 as World Humanitarian Day in commemoration of the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad in 2003, when 22 staff members lost their lives.
