Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence, the United Nations has designated 19 August as World Humanitarian Day. On this day six years ago, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the special representative in Iraq for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, was killed along with 21 others in a bomb attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. In a world wearied by terrorist attacks, this shocking bomb attack reverberated around the world.

This day will be an opportunity for us to pay tribute to all humanitarian workers in Australia and overseas who dedicate their lives to helping others. It will be a day to remember the career and life of Sergio de Mello, who was well known to so many Australians. And it will be a day to remember those who have been killed in the course of their humanitarian work. It has been estimated that some 750 humanitarian workers have been killed in the last 10 years alone in the course of their duties. So the coalition joins with the government in welcoming 19 August as the designated date for World Humanitarian Day.

See this speech in context