Thousands of selfies are to be displayed on a 3D installation at the United Nations in New York to highlight the plight of millions caught in conflict worldwide and demand protection for those trying to help them, the world body said on Friday.
The UN is asking people around the world to add their names to a petition calling on global leaders to protect civilians and aid workers - not with a pen, but by submitting a selfie online.
The 3D images will be projected onto a mirrored glass structure at the UN building in what it is calling the first-ever “living petition”.
“It is unconscionable that civilians and the aid workers who are trying to help them are killed and maimed in conflict zones with utter impunity,” said Mark Lowcock, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“We need this to end.”
In 2017, 139 aid workers were killed, more than 100 wounded and 76 kidnapped while doing their jobs, according to the annual Aid Worker Security Report compiled by independent research group Humanitarian Outcomes.
The death toll was the second highest on record and 23 percent up on the previous year.
Syria was named the most dangerous place for humanitarian workers for the second year in a row in 2018 in a separate analysis by charity CARE International, accounting for more than half of 76 deaths recorded so far this year.
Experts say aid agencies need to do more to help workers who suffer from mental health problems such as depression, burnout and anxiety after exposure to traumatic events.
