Every year on August 21, people around the world mark the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. The International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism will be observed for the sixth time on August 21, 2023.
History of the Day
The United Nations General Assembly established the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism in its resolution 72/165 of December 20, 2017. The unanimous adoption of the resolution demonstrates the depth of the international commitment to thwarting terrorism and aiding its victims.
The day was designated to remember the August 21, 2003 bombing of the UN building in Baghdad, Iraq, which left 22 people dead, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Significance of the Day
The victims and survivors of terrorism are remembered and honoured on the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. On this day, the world community should reaffirm its commitment to fighting terrorism and advancing and defending the rights and liberties of all people.
Governments, organisations, and people all across the world attend commemorative ceremonies on this day to honor the victims of terrorism and to raise awareness of the need to fight this evil. These occasions could be in the form of educational workshops, candlelight vigils, or memorial services.
The International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism is a significant chance for the entire world to come together and express our support for the terrorist victims and survivors. It is also a day to reaffirm our commitment to the battle against terrorism and to building a peaceful, secure world for all.
The Effects of Terrorism, its Victims in Nigeria and the Worldover
There are terrorist organisations operating in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Western nations are also not exempt. 2,996 people died as a result of the planned terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the US. 52 people were killed when insurgents attacked a bus and underground trains in Britain in 2005. Similar atrocities have occurred in France and Spain.
According to the Red Cross, over two million Nigerians have fled their homes, with over 200,000 of them seeking asylum in neighboring nations.
The Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect estimates that since Boko Haram began its insurgency in 2009, more than 35,000 people have died in Nigeria.
Other accounts place the number of fatalities at above 100,000. We shouldn’t forget about them. Over 2,600 civilians were killed by bandits in numerous Northern states in 2021, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Over 21 people were killed and 60 more were injured in 2011 when a Boko Haram suicide bomber slammed into the UN building in Abuja. At least 185 people died in Kano in 2012 as a result of terrorist explosions and shootings.
59 students were killed when terrorists attacked a boarding school in Damaturu, Yobe State, in February 2014. In April of the same year, two bombs detonated in a motor park in Nyanya, Abuja, killing at least 88 people and injuring more than 200 others. In Borno State in 2020, the terrorists brutally killed no less than 40 fisherman and rice farmers.
The majority has also fallen on security staff. 344 of the 581 police officers slain were in the South-East by gunmen and separatists, while 119 were killed by bandits and kidnappers. Additionally, there have been several forced marriages, rapes, torture, and abductions in series, which have left thousands of helpless victims traumatised.
Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, in April 2014. The Islamic State of West Africa, one of its offshoots, abducted 110 girls from a school in Dapchi, Yobe State, in 2018.
