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A thread on the United Nations’ annual #WorldHumanitarianDay (19 August), and its campaign to highlight aid workers’ achievements and the risks – sometimes fatal – they face. This year’s theme is #RealLifeHeroes. 1/
2/ A good reminder: https://twitter.com/ParraV/status/1295358551133757442
3/ In 2019, a record 483 aid workers were affected by kidnappings, assaults, bombings, armed attacks, and other violent incidents. Of those, 125 were killed, 94 percent of whom were working in their own countries. #notatarget
https://www.humanitarianoutcomes.org/publications/AWSDfigures2020 https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2020/08/10/Niger-aid-workers-killed-ACTED
https://www.humanitarianoutcomes.org/publications/AWSDfigures2020 https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2020/08/10/Niger-aid-workers-killed-ACTED
4/ An oldie, but still a not-so-goodie… We mapped 20 years of aid worker attacks: https://twitter.com/newhumanitarian/status/898605423334486020
5/ Aid workers are the subject of the campaign, if not its target audience. @BenParker140 asked what they think of it: https://twitter.com/BenParker140/status/1295354030546354177
6/ Here are some reflections and recommendations from @lindsayhamsik: https://twitter.com/lindsayhamsik/status/1295499862230945793?s=21
7/ The devastating explosion in Beirut earlier this month vividly demonstrated the primary role that volunteers and local aid groups play in responding to disaster – especially when confronting the failings of a dysfunctional state. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2020/08/18/Lebanon-Beirut-explosion-local-aid-response
8/ Meet Farzana Khan, the woman behind the first palliative care programme set up in the middle of a humanitarian response.
9/ Jaime Marín started Jardín de las Mariposas, the first shelter for LGBTQ+ migrants and asylum seekers in Tijuana, using money from a second job.
10/ But talk of “heroes” makes some aid professionals uncomfortable – see this from @MSF_Crash: https://www.msf-crash.org/index.php/en/publications/humanitarian-actors-and-practices/dying-humanitarian-ideas-using-images-and-statistics
11/ Glossy graphics and celebrity endorsements are meant to get the message across into the mainstream. https://twitter.com/Refugees/status/1295986607774814208
12/ The campaign spotlights grassroots workers and local leaders, not the stereotypical (often White) expats
: @UNOCHA
: @UNOCHA
12.5 / Well, mainly 
13/ Aid workers generally seem in favour of this commemoration of colleagues killed in the course of their work. And many feel a public celebration once a year is the least they deserve for an often thankless job. https://twitter.com/EleanorDavey/status/1295571445779587073?s=20
14/ Others find the whole thing, well, #awkward? https://twitter.com/akrishnan23/status/1295406967880650760?s=20
Lastly/ If you want to vent about the campaign, fire away below! But also, if you could put aside your scepticism and snark just for one day, who are your humanitarian #RealLifeHeroes? https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/in-depth/ground-inside-push-reshape-local-aid
