World Humanitarian Day is celebrated every year on Aug. 19 to honor the works of humanitarian workers all over the world.

The day was commemorated in memory of a bomb attack in Iraq on Aug. 19, 2003, that killed 22 people, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the chief humanitarian in the country. The United Nations General Assembly formalized the day as World Humanitarian Day (WHD) in 2009.

Each year, World Humanitarian Day is celebrated by focusing on a theme that will help "to advocate for the survival, well-being and dignity of people affected by crises."

This year's theme for World Humanitarian Day is the climate crisis and the UN wants the world leaders to take meaningful climate actions for the world's most vulnerable people.

The United Nations have initiated a campaign called "The Human Race" this year in solidarity with climate-vulnerable people. The campaign aims to get the global leaders to deliver their decade-old pledge of $100 billion annually for climate mitigation in developing countries. The campaign is based on the motto that "In the race against the climate crisis, we can’t leave anyone behind."

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representational image pixabay

You can take part in the campaign by doing any activity like running, riding, swimming or walking for a cumulative 100 minutes between Aug. 16 and 31. You can express your solidarity with the campaign by using these hashtags in your social media activities #TheHumanRace #WorldHumanitarianDay.

Here are some quotes from great personalities around the world that will help you understand the significance of Humanitarian actions.

  1. "Don't look for big things, just do small things with great love...the smaller the thing, the greater must be our love."-Mother Teresa
  2. "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?"-Martin Luther King, Jr.
  3. "Don't be content in your life just to do no wrong, be prepared every day to try and do some good."-Nicholas Winton
  4. "The destiny of world civilization depends upon providing a decent standard of living for all mankind."-Norman Borlaug
  5. "The most wonderful study of mankind is a man. Relieving human suffering and diffusing universal knowledge is humanitarian."-Daniel D. Palmer
  6. "For me, humanitarian service, or rather service of all that lives, is religion. And I draw no distinction between such religion and politics."-Mahatma Gandhi
  7. "To say that on a daily basis you can make a difference, well, you can. One act of kindness a day can do it."Betty Williams
  8. "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."-Mother Teresa
  9. "My religion is humanitarianism, which is the basis of every religion in the world."-Abdul Sattar Edhi
  10. "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings."-Nelson Mandela
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