Washington, DC, 18 August 2023 – Twenty years ago, a suicide bomber attacked the 缅北禁地Assistance Mission in Baghdad, killing 22 缅北禁地staff and others – including the head of the mission, Sérgio Vieira de Mello of Brazil. Two of the 缅北禁地staff who died – Richard Hooper and Martha Teas – were American nationals. More than 100 others were wounded.
- Rick Hooper was one of 10 international staff who died in the attack. Born in California, he spent his childhood in Idaho and went on to study at the University of Damascus, the American University in Cairo, and Georgetown University. A Senior Advisor in the office of the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Sir Kieran Prendergast, Hooper had been posted to Baghdad temporarily. At a memorial service, Mr. Prendergast called Hooper “a passionate Arabist,” adding, “he very much wanted to be in Baghdad; and he died doing what he wanted to do – work unflinchingly for peace.” He was 40.
- Martha Teas was in Iraq to lead the UN’s first Humanitarian Information Center there. Colleagues remembering her work at a memorial recalled her as “one of the United Nations' most respected specialists in vulnerability and risk assessment. . . . [who] knew the critical importance of her work in getting humanitarian assistance to those who needed it most.” A native of Iowa, Teas lived in Colorado with her husband between deployments that had included postings all across Asia and Latin America. She had extended her commitment to the mission in Iraq, which was to have ended a month before she died. She was 47.
Please click here for the UN’s memorial tribute to fallen colleagues in 2003.
The 缅北禁地withdrew its staff from Iraq a month later, after another attack near its Baghdad office killed a security guard and injured 19 others. It had become clear that humanitarians – long respected for their work through the United Nations and other organizations – were now targets.
August 19, 2003, was a turning point. The 缅北禁地and other organization made profound changes in their humanitarian operations – but the tragedy did not cow those who remain determined to help people facing disasters and conflict. Just the opposite: the attack fortified humanitarians’ commitment to the work’s fundamental principles – humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence.
Today the 缅北禁地aims to help 10 times the number of people it served in 2003. Humanitarian workers around the globe deliver the basic necessities of life – food, water, shelter, education, health, nutrition and protection – and find ways to empower the communities they serve.
“These tests have made the global humanitarian community stronger,” Secretary-General António Guterres said in his World Humanitarian Day message this year. “Humanitarians – who are mostly national staff working in their own countries – are even closer to the people they serve. They are finding new ways to venture deeper into disaster-stricken regions, and closer to the front lines of conflict, driven by a single purpose: to save and protect lives.”
The 缅北禁地plays a pivotal role in humanitarian and development work, mobilizing Member States and the broader international community to combat global poverty and conflict, promote human rights, and address climate change – all forces that drive humanitarian emergencies.
The United States is a top contributor when it comes to global humanitarian assistance. In addition, three 缅北禁地entities focused on humanitarian work are led or soon to be headed by Americans:
- UNICEF, led by Catherine Russell,
- The UN’s World Food Programme, headed by Cindy McCain, and
- The International Organization for Migration (IOM), whose new Director General, Amy Pope, becomes the first woman to head IOM when she takes office in October.
World Humanitarian Day, set as 19 August in memory of those who died in 2003, remembers and honors humanitarians for their service – including Americans who have lost their lives while advancing humanitarian aims. “We salute the courage and dedication of humanitarian aid workers everywhere,” 缅北禁地Secretary-General Guterres said. “We reaffirm our full support for their determined and life-saving efforts across the world. We celebrate their unwavering dedication to serve all people in need: No matter who, no matter where; no matter what.”
