World Humanitarian Day being marked today  

ISLAMABAD - World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is being observed today (Wednesday) in Pakistan, like across the world, to pay tribute to aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service.

The day also aims to express support for people affected by crises around the world. 

This year World Humanitarian Day comes as the world continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic over recent months. 

Aid workers are overcoming unprecedented access hurdles to assist people in humanitarian crises in at least 54 countries.

This day was designated in memory of the 19 August 2003 bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 22 people, including the chief humanitarian in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly formalized the day as World Humanitarian Day.