Dubai's Burj Khalifa lights up to highlight world's humanitarian crisis

World Humanitarian Day highlights the plight of those made vulnerable by climate emergency

Burj Khalifa lights up for World Humanitarian Day. Photo: Antonie Robertson / The National

The Burj Khalifa lit up to mark World Humanitarian Day on Thursday.

The world’s tallest building, in Dubai, had the slogan of this year’s campaign, #TheHumanRace, beamed on to its facade at 8.40pm.

The campaign was launched earlier this year by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to “put the needs of climate-vulnerable people front and centre”.

“The climate emergency is wreaking havoc across the world at a scale that the humanitarian community and people on the front lines cannot manage,” said an OCHA representative.

“Time is already running out for millions of the world’s most vulnerable people – those who have contributed least to the global climate emergency but are hit the hardest.

“Media reports tell stories of people who have lost their homes, livelihoods and lives. Those are just glimpse of what lies ahead if we fail to properly adapt to climate change while we are racing against time.”

The UAE ranked fourth among countries donating to the OCHA’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in the first half of 2021.

August 19 was chosen as World Humanitarian Day after a bomb attack, on that date in 2003, at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

“This year, we highlight the immediate human cost of the climate crisis by pressuring world leaders to take meaningful climate action for the world’s most vulnerable people,” said the OCHA representative.

The country’s contribution to the fund since it began in 2006 stands at more than $20.1 million.

The OCHA representative also hailed the UAE for its support of regional crises. It noted the UAE's contribution of $231.64 million to the Yemeni crisis since the beginning of the year, with a total of more than $4 billion since the crisis began.

The UAE has also sent aid to countries across the world to help curb the spread of Covid19.

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