World Humanitarian Day 2013: United Nations Celebrates Humanitarian Aid Workers With 'Word Market' Project [VIDEO]

Aug. 19 marks World Humanitarian Day, which honors those who gave their lives through their humanitarian service and those who are current humanitarian workers.

World Humanitarian Day was designated by the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly in 2008 to coincide with the anniversary of a terrorist attack on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003. The attack killed 22 people including Brazilian UN diplomat, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was posthumously, awarded a UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights for his extensive efforts in humanitarian programs.

The day is meant to draw attention to not only humanitarian workers, but the humanitarian needs across the world. Humanitarian aid workers provide assistance in disaster situations both man-made and natural.

This year the U.N. celebrates World Humanitarian Day with a new project called the Word Market.

The project created a “marketplace” for words in order to raise funds for humanitarian aid through the Global Humanitarian Fund. Participants in the project can help by tweeting the hashtag “#theworldneedsmore,” along with a hashtag with the word you want to sponsor.

Participants can also share the same hashtags on Facebook or even sponsor a particular word through a donation via Paypal, an online payment service. However, only the words that appear on the sponsored page will generate funds for this project.

Take a look at a message from the United Nations about World Humanitarian Day and its “word market” project in the video above.

You can learn more about World Humanitarian Day here.