Marking World Humanitarian Day 2025

Around 400 million children—1 in 5 globally—live in or are fleeing conflict zones. In 2024, the UN verified over 36,000 civilian deaths in 14 armed conflicts. In 2023, 363 climate-related disasters displaced 26.4 million people, impacting homes, food systems, and economies. In every crisis, humanitarian workers put themselves at risk on a daily basis to provide life-saving assistance.𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀.
While the Pacific has not seen armed conflict requiring humanitarian response, our humanitarians have been at the forefront of emergency response to the climate crisis.
𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰, 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption and tsunami in January 2022, to the Droughts in Kiribati and Tuvalu, to tropical Cyclones Cody, Dovi, and Gina in 2022, primarily affecting Fiji and Vanuatu.
The United Nations and humanitarian workers across local and international partner organizations provided life-saving support in all of these crises: both leading in emergency response, and in supporting Pacific communities to build a resilient disaster preparedness system.
Despite this, globally the funding for humanitarian work has been drying up. And those who provide humanitarian aid are increasingly under attack. 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟯𝟵𝟬 𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁,𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆, 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮  𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯.
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 “𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦” 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺, 𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯.” - 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘰 𝘎𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺-𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭
This is why today, on World Humanitarian Day, celebrating humanitarian workers is not enough. We need those in power to act now to ensure protection of civilians, including humanitarians, in conflict zones. 
International law is clear: humanitarians must be respected and protected. They can never be targeted. 
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲. 𝗜𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
• To protect every aid worker – and invest in their safety. 
• To strengthen accountability and bring perpetrators to justice. 
• To end arms flows to parties that violate international law. 
𝗔𝗻 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆.
Today and every day, let’s #ActForHumanity