IHC CELEBRATED WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY 2020 IN DUBAI

The International Humanitarian City, IHC, today announced that it celebrated the World Humanitarian Day 2020, held each year on 19th August, at IHC compound in Dubai.

Attended by Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and IHC Board member, and a number of diplomats accredited to the UAE and representatives of UN Agencies and international humanitarian organisations, the celebrations have been opened by a video-speech of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who emphasised the reason behind dedicating this year’s World Humanitarian Day to the (Real-Life Heroes) combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guterres underlined that, "This year, humanitarian workers are stretched like never before. They are responding to the global crisis of COVID-19, and with it the massive increase in humanitarian needs from the fallout of the pandemic."

After a welcome note from the IHC CEO Giuseppe Saba, a panel discussion moderated by Vice-President; Editor-in-Chief, CNN Arabic & IHC Board member Caroline Faraj, took place to discuss "The Challenges of Humanitarian community in the age of COVID-19".

The Panel composed of Reem Al Hashemy, Andrea Matteo Fontana, EU’s Ambassador to the UAE, Dr. Waleed Al-Ali, Advisor at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, MBRGI, and Mr. Mageed Yahia, Country Director World Food Programme, WFP, and Representative to the GCC Region, went into a depth analysis of the current humanitarian scenarios impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Other, diplomats and senior members of humanitarian organisations and Media representatives attended the event. During the event, guests were also able to explore the relief items from various humanitarian organisations available on display.

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