Remembering Sergio Vieira de Mello

Geneva, 19 August 2020 — Today the UN celebrates the World Humanitarian Day, to highlight the work of those in the field, in the frontlines of international aid.

The day was instituted after the 2003 bombing of the UN offices in Iraq, the office that had as its main goal to support the coalition forces, help rebuild the nation, and bring stability to the country.

For this complex and perilous task the late Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed his long-standing friend and colleague Sergio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian national who had served the UN for 34 years, negotiating peace agreements and overseeing the repatriations of thousands of refugees.

In July of 2002 Sergio Vieira de Mello was appointed to be High Commissioner for Human Rights, barely a year later, on May 23 of 2003, Kofi Annan asked him to handle the Iraq situation.

Not one to shy from challenges, Sergio accepted the position, thinking that, a few months in, he would be able to return to his new appointment as High Commissi…