The day an explosion rocked my world

You may not have known it, but this past Wednesday (19 August) was the first ever World Humanitarian Day – a day that marks an event I’ll never forget.

Smoke billows from the UN's Headquarters in Iraq after bomb attack

It was on this day, back in 2003, that an explosion in Iraq threw my world into chaos. A day on which a lot of good people lost their lives.

I remember the morning of 19 August 2003 like it was yesterday. Back then, I was working at the United Nation’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York on mine action issues in Iraq.

The day started like any other. I was sifting through the overnight emails and planning my day’s work when a story on CNN caught my eye. The UN’s Headquarters in Baghdad, the Canal Hotel, had been bombed.

With many of my mine action colleagues based in the Canal Hotel, I was understandably shaken. What was most surreal, however, was that the CNN footage was showing my Director, Martin Barber, in the middle of a press conference in the hotel when the bomb exploded.

My first reaction was to ring our Program Officer in Baghdad, Rodney Cocks, to see if all of our mine action staff were accounted for. Only a year earlier, Rod had been caught up in the Bali nightclub bombings and so, oddly enough, was experienced in these situations.

He quickly confirmed that all our mine action team members were accounted for. Although some had suffered injuries during the blast and subsequent chaos, none of them were life threatening.

Some of the stories  that I heard that morning were incredible. I particularly recall the efforts of two of my colleagues and close friends JJ van der Merwe and Michel Dufort, who, despite their own injuries, kept running in and out of the Canal Hotel to rescue their colleagues.

Many of my colleagues were transported to US military hospitals throughout the region and then onto Germany. It was weeks before many of them were able to return home – often with permanent physical and mental scarring. 

Tragically, 21 people lost their lives in the blast, including the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

One of those deaths was that of a brave young colleague Fiona Watson, from the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations, who Id’ worked closely with in the weeks leading up to her death.

She remains one of the brightest and most committed people that I’ve had the privilege of working with in my career. This World Humanitarian Day, I couldn’t help by think of Fiona’s courage and unwavering commitment to help the people of Iraq recover their dignity and their sovereignty.

It’s people like her that inspire me to work harder every day. I’m glad we now have a special day on which to remember those who have lost their lives in the cause of duty.

Background on World Humanitarian Day:

On 11 December 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Resolution which designated 19 August as World Humanitarian Day (WHD).

The Resolution gives, for the first time, a special recognition to all humanitarian and United Nations and associated personnel who have worked in the promotion of the humanitarian cause and those who have lost their lives in the cause of duty.