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WFP Statement
18 August 2017
ON WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY, WFP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HONORS COLLEAGUES
ON THE FRONTLINES OF HUNGER
Statement by WFP Executive Director David Beasley
Around
the globe, we come together on Saturday, 19 August for World
Humanitarian Day to support the millions of people across the globe
trapped in conflicts and to
pay tribute to the aid workers who care for them.
In
all corners of the world, World Food Programme colleagues are working
tirelessly to make sure that children and their families, suffering and
broken apart by violence
and fighting, have enough to eat. Today we remember their determination
and dedication to alleviate suffering and meet the needs of the most
vulnerable. We celebrate their courage and commitment to work on the
frontlines of hunger, often at great risk to their
own personal safety. Some have lost their lives while trying to save
others.
This
year, we especially mourn the tragic loss of three men working under
contract for WFP -- Daniel James, Ecsa Tearp and Ali Elario, who were
shot dead in April while
reporting for duty in Wau, South Sudan. Our thoughts and prayers are
with their families.
Humanitarian
workers go where the need is, and far too often that is where conflict
is as well. Fighting and violence drive 80 percent of all humanitarian
needs, and
10 of WFP’s 13 largest food assistance operations are driven primarily
by conflict. In Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, more than 20
million people, including 1.4 million children, are on the brink of
famine. Increasingly, those involved in the conflicts
in these areas are targeting aid workers.
On
World Humanitarian Day, we come together to reaffirm that civilians
caught in conflict and those who care for them are #NotATarget. We
appeal to world leaders to
take action to protect them and to deliver on the promise of our
mutual, shared humanity.
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