GENEVA / WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY

STORY: GENEVA / WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY
TRT: 4:05
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 16 AUGUST 2018 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST:

1. Exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, entrance, Human Rights Room
3. Med shot, entrance Human Rights Room with #NOTATARGET” poster
4. Wide shot, audience at Human Rights Room
5. Med shot, podium at Human Rights room
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mattia-Sélim Kanaan, son of Jean-Sélim Kanaan, victim of terrorist attack against UN in Baghdad:
“In these years, I never liked news about terrorist attacks. It made me feel outraged and sad for other families. Terrorists are not brave and have no heart. There is no courage in killing people that are unarmed. Despite the pain that sometimes I feel, what I learned since childhood is that life is stronger than anything, including bombs and fanatic ideologies”.
7. Med shot, Human rights room with poster #NOTATARGET
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Carole Ray, survivor of the terrorist attack against UN in Baghdad:
“Some live with pain on a daily basis, some have lost their limbs, others their eyes, or some other function of the body. Many still serve the United Nations proudly and with distinction, with dedication. So, I ask you to think a little today of those brave souls that survived, not only in Baghdad, Algiers, Afghanistan, Somalia and in other attacks against our flag, our people”.
9. Med shot, audience
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Susanne Olejas, widow of Steven Olejas, victim of terrorist attack against UN in Algiers:
”My speech here today is directed to the continuation of life, and all the unfinished businesses, plans, dreams and ordinary life that you live with your growing kids and with your family now in total despair and with terrorism having moved right into your life. It is not been easy, let me tell you that”.
11. Wide shot, audience
12. Wide shot, audience
13. Wide shot, minute of silence
14. Pan, minute of silence
15. Pan down, minute of silence
16. Wide shot, UN senior officials
17. Med shot, UN senior officials
18. Wide shot, wreath laying ceremony
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
”Since that day in 2003 many other outrageous attacks have deliberately targeted humanitarian workers and people working to promote and protect human rights. And so it is that on this day we come together in grief and sadness and in anger we comfort each other and in that warmth we keep alive our memory of those whom we have lost. We lament their absence and we still mourn”.
20. Close up, plaque to the UN victims in Baghdad
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“We marvel time and again at the dedication and courage of our colleagues who work in some of the most dangerous places in the world, because human equality and human dignity matter even in the face of threats and danger. We and our colleagues will continue this essential work we do”.
22. Various shots, audience listening
23. Med shot, wreath laying Zeid and UN Director General Michael Moeller
24. Focus pool, UN flag with flowers
25. Med shot, UN guard with UN plate of Baghdad victims
26. Med shot, HC Zeid at podium
27. Med shot, victims of terrorism

STORYLINE:

In a special ceremony to commemorate the World Humanitarian Day, the United Nations Office in Geneva gathered today survivors and family members of victims who lost their lives in the service of peace in Baghdad, Algiers and elsewhere.

This year’s commemoration marks 15 years since the terrorist attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq in which 22 UN staff died and hundreds were injured. This horrible act was the start of increasingly violent attacks against the UN and other organizations, taking the lives of hundreds of humanitarian workers and other colleagues.

Mattia-Sélim Kanaan, who was a three weeks old baby when his father Jean-Sélim Kanaan died in the bombing of the UN in Baghdad, addressed for the first time the audience. He said that “in these years, I never liked news about terrorist attacks. It made me feel outraged and sad for other families. Terrorists are not brave and have no heart. There is no courage in killing people that are unarmed. Despite the pain that sometimes I feel, what I learned since childhood is that life is stronger than anything, including bombs and fanatic ideologies”.

World Humanitarian Day, designated by the UN General Assembly to be observed on 19 August, remembers aid workers who paid the utmost sacrifice in the line of duty and pays tribute to those who deliver aid to vulnerable communities in some of the world’s most dangerous crises.

Carole Ray who survived the terrorist attack against the United Nations in Baghdad, reminded of the wounds that the survivors carry on for years. She said that “some live with pain on a daily basis, some have lost their limbs, others their eyes, or some other function of the body. Many still serve the United Nations proudly and with distinction, with dedication. So I ask you to think a little today of those brave souls that survived, not only in Baghdad, Algiers, Afghanistan, Somalia and in other attacks against our flag, our people”.

Susanne Olejas, widow of the late Steven Olejas who died in the terrorist attack against UN in Algiers on 11 December 2007, said that ”my speech here today is directed to the continuation of life, and all the unfinished businesses, plans, dreams and ordinary life that you live with your growing kids and with your family now in total despair and with terrorism having moved right into your life. It is not been easy, let me tell you that”.

Last year, 139 aid workers were killed, 102 were wounded and 72 were kidnapped in the line of duty. This marks the fifth consecutive year in which more than 100 humanitarians lost their lives on the job, and it is the highest recorded annual death toll since 2013, when 156 humanitarians were killed.

In his speech at the wreath laying ceremony Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reminded that since the Baghdad bombing ”many other outrageous attacks have deliberately targeted humanitarian workers and people working to promote and protect human rights. And so it is that on this day we come together in grief and sadness and in anger we comfort each other and in that warmth we keep alive our memory of those whom we have lost. We lament their absence and we still mourn”.

Recent data from the Aid Worker Security Database shows that 313 aid workers were victims of violence in 158 separate attacks across 22 counties in 2017. Of those, 139 aid workers were killed - a rise from 107 killed in 2016.

Ninety percent of the 313 victims were national staff and two thirds of all attacks in 2017 took place in just five countries: South Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Central African Republic and Nigeria.

“We marvel time and again at the dedication and courage of our colleagues who work in some of the most dangerous places in the world, because human equality and human dignity matter even in the face of threats and danger. We and our colleagues will continue this essential work we do”, the UN Human Rights Chief said.