Strengthening Global Humanitarian Commitment with #NoMatterWhat Theme for World Humanitarian Day 2023

Human Initiative – Humanitarian workers bear witness to the upheavals of emergency situations and various conflicts in different countries worldwide. In 2023, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) is supporting humanitarian workers by adopting the #NoMatterWhat theme to commemorate World Humanitarian Day 2023, aiming to reinforce global humanitarian commitment.

On August 7, 2023, UN OCHA, headquartered in the United States, unveiled #NoMatterWhat as the theme for the commemoration of World Humanitarian Day (WHD) in 2023. This theme carries a profound meaning: no matter what happens, humanitarian workers collaborate to serve humanity.

“This World Humanitarian Day, we use it to show that we all stand shoulder to shoulder with the communities we serve, with anyone, anywhere, and #NoMatterWhat,” UN OCHA writes in the Framework of Work for World Humanitarian Day 2023.

Increasingly Challenging Humanitarian Work

This year’s WHD theme serves as a reminder that current humanitarian work faces extraordinary challenges. UN OCHA states that the values and principles guiding humanitarian work are under threat. Therefore, UN OCHA, as the parent organization of various humanitarian organizations worldwide, calls on everyone to work together to address these challenges.

“Humanitarian workers are now facing greater difficulty and danger due to escalating geopolitical tensions, increasing disregard for international humanitarian law, deliberate attacks, and the emergence of disinformation campaigns,” UN OCHA expresses in its statement.

World Humanitarian Day always commemorates the tragic events of August 19, 2009. This incident marked the beginning of the annual WHD commemoration. The event led to the loss of UN Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, along with 22 other volunteers, in a bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, shaking the humanitarian world.

The initial event in 2009 and subsequent events have disrupted global humanitarian work. Thus, UN OCHA’s theme #NoMatterWhat this year aims to unite the efforts of all humanitarian advocates, solely to fulfill the needs of every person in need.

“Our goal is nothing else but to save and protect lives. To provide the basic necessities of life such as food, water, shelter, education, health, nutrition, and protection,” UN OCHA writes.

Human Initiative’s Support through Humanitarian Week

Human Initiative, a globally based humanitarian organization, supports the humanitarian campaign formulated by UNOCHA to commemorate WHD 2023 in August. Aligned with the spirit of Indonesian Independence, World Humanitarian Day, and Rohingya Day, Human Initiative carries the overarching theme ‘No Matter What Happens, Don’t Stop Doing Good.’

“This theme resonates with the celebrations and commemorations in August. The fusion of nationalism and humanitarianism aims to collectively promote goodness in the world,” says Tomy Hendrajati, President of Human Initiative.