World Humanitarian Day
UN Women joins World Humanitarian Day commemorations
Date: Monday, September 5, 2016
The World Humanitarian Day recognizes those who risked their lives to humanitarian service. This is a date that seeks to create a mobilization in favor of humanitarian action and make a call to solidarity with more than 130 million people throughout the world, that require humanitarian aid to survive.
On the occasion of this date, that takes place every August 19, designated by UN General Assembly in memory of the bombing of United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003, the Regional Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean (OCHA), opened the photographic exhibition, "Ecuador, three months after" at the City of Knowledge, in Panama City.
The exhibit displayed 40 photographs taken by United Nations offices, during the days following the earthquake that shook Ecuador on April 16 2016, which killed hundreds of adults, women and children.
UN Women participated in this exhibition with three photographs, supplied by its Country Office in Ecuador, that shows the female perspective during emergency situations and the actions implemented to reduce their vulnerability and promote their reintegration to production cycles, to support their families and needs.
The opening ceremony was held on August 18 with the presence of the UN Resident Coordinator a.i. in Panama, Amado de Andrés; the Regional head of OCHA for Latin America and the Caribbean, Wendy Cue and the Ambassador of the Republic of Ecuador in Panama, Wilson Galo Enríquez Enríquez.
"Ecuador, three months after" is a tribute to the thousands of humanitarian workers who from the first day, assisted the people affected by the earthquake and, also, to the communities located in Ecuador’s North Coast. In this sense, UN Women thanks OCHA for the opportunity to participate in this exposition, that certainly puts on the table the impossible choices faced by persons under critical situations.