August 19 2003

Sérgio Vieira de Mello of Brazil, 55, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (in Iraq as Special Representative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan), and 21 of his colleagues are killed and more than 100 wounded when a car bomb explodes in front of the Canal Hotel, housing the UN headquarters, in Baghdad. Vieira de Mello studied in Brazil, Switzerland and France, obtained two doctorates, joined the UN in 1969 and served in some of the most challenging humanitarian situations around the world. In 2008 the UN adopts a resolution to designate August 19 as World Humanitarian Day, first commemorated in 2009, giving special recognition to all who have worked in the promotion of the humanitarian cause and those who have lost their lives while doing so