EU Humanitarian Aid hosts twitter chat for #WorldHumanitarianDay

In today’s volatile world, more than 100 million people need urgent, life-saving humanitarian aid just to survive.

“Each one of us can make a difference”, Ban said. Those at greatest risk are often the national staff of aid organisations, women and men from countries affected by crises. There is an acknowledged risk-taking when providing medical assistance in a conflict area but the direct targeting of aid workers by parties to the conflict means that the requirement of basic acceptance for a neutral and independent “ambulance” inside the conflict zone is not attainable. Marking the day, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Christos Stylianides said that humanitarian crises have become “more devastating than ever before”.

Zamboanga City joins the World Humanitarian Day celebration today with the theme “Inspire the World’s Humanity”, an opportunity to inspire and empower people around the world to get involved in demanding and creating a more humane world where there is a stronger commitment to life-saving humanitarian action. We also look to the UN security council to insist on this protection. This spirit knows no national or cultural boundaries.

Oxfam believes that in order to help humanitarians do their jobs more effectively, we must change the system. A lack of embedding into local societies, previously identified and criticized parochial attitudes towards the beneficiaries of their assistance, and negative feedback on the image they project as opposed to the effectiveness and efficiency of the action they undertake are all areas that require significant improvements. The scale of emergency needs far outstrips our capacity to respond with the resources to meet the minimum humanitarian needs – water, food, shelter, essential healthcare and protection. This shortfall translates into less food, including to severely malnourished babies and children, less clean water and sanitation, more disease, fewer health services, less shelter and less protection.

Disasters such as TC Pam remind us of the region’s vulnerability and have put humanitarian issues front-and-centre of public debate. They have saved countless lives, while in too many cases, sacrificing their own.

The European Union as a whole has provided humanitarian aid for more than 40 years and is, together with its member states, today the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid, according to the EU’s information.