The World Humanitarian Day 2012 campaign has been heralded as a success by its organizers as more than one billion messages of hope were shared via social media since it was launched on 2nd of August.
The campaign was launched to encourage people globally to pledge to do something good for someone else on World Humanitarian Day, which falls on 19 of August.
According to UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, there are seven billion people in the world and the campaign has reached hundreds of millions of them with their message.
“People really care.” -Ms. Amos
For this year’s observance of the Day, the UN launched a campaign entitled ‘I Was Here.’ The campaign aimed at engaging one billion people through social media so they can pledge a humanitarian action, and share their individual actions with others through www.whd-iwashere.org website.
The campaign was organized by OCHA and received the support of American singer Beyonce Knowles as well.
According to OCHA, Ms. Knowles’ contribution also included filming a video for the song at the General Assembly Hall at UN Headquarters in New York.
“Thanks to the amazing work of Beyonce and our partners, we now have a global commitment to humanitarian action. The message of people helping people is universal.” -Ms. Amos
Ms. Amos says ‘making your mark and saying ‘I Was Here,’ resonates powerfully with people all over the world.”
OCHA reports that the campaign numbers soared following the release of the ‘I Was Here’ music video on 18 August.
Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2008 to increase public awareness about humanitarian activities around the world, World Humanitarian Day is also an occasion to honor aid workers who labor every day on behalf of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
This day marks the 9th anniversary of the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad in which 22 UN staff members were killed, including Sergio Vieiro de Mello, the Secretary General’s Special Representative in Iraq.
