Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The UN in Jordan on Sunday marked World Humanitarian Day 2017, granting four humanitarian excellence awards to humanitarian workers for their exemplary commitment on four thematic areas; Inclusion of People with Disabilities, Working Together, Innovation in Humanitarian Action, and Youth Empowerment.

The official ceremony, held at the Landmark Hotel in Amman, was attended by humanitarians, senior government officials and members of the international and local communities.

In August, the UN in Jordan launched a call inviting humanitarian workers in the country and local initiatives to submit stories and photos from the field portraying their daily work within the community. Awards were given to the Jordan Paramedic Society Project Team for the thematic area of ‘Working Together’, to Reem Nayaz from Reclaim Childhood in the category of ‘Youth Empowerment’, to UNICEF Jordan’s Time Bank Team for their series on ‘Innovation in Humanitarian Action’, and to Izdehar Abdel Razek for his work on ‘Inclusion of People with Disabilities’.

During his welcoming remarks, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan, Anders Pedersen, reiterated the UN’s commitment to support Jordan not only in the provision of effective and efficient humanitarian operations, but also in strengthening the humanitarian and development nexus. "For the UN in Jordan, this means we need to have a more coordinated humanitarian response that also supports the country in its longer-term sustainable development while ensuring its acceleration towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals", Pedersen said.

The Director of International Relations and International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Leena Al-Hadid, attended the ceremony as guest of honor and highlighted that "in Jordan we firmly believe that our humanitarian duty comes from our deep values, warm hospitality, and humanity, which are characteristics entrenched in our culture. Even though we lose a lot in our host communities, it continues to be very much our culture of giving. This does not come solely from our feeling of obligation, Jordan has received one wave of refugees after the other, not out of its legal obligation, but rather out of its moral obligation".

Al-Hadid continued: "the support of the international community is crucial in sharing the burden and taking on its responsibility, because more can be achieved for the good of all, refugees and host communities alike".

The Acting Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis Ramesh Rajasingham commended the generosity and contribution of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as well as other countries in the region, in hosting millions of Syrian refugees. He expressed that the UN and international community "remain determined to continue to advocate in all possible forums the recognition of a principled humanitarian assistance by international and local organizations and actors".