Zayed Humantarian Day: Founding Father’s Legacy Recognised Across Globe

When the UAE celebrates the annual ‘Zayed Humanitarian Work Day’, which falls on 19th Ramadan, this benevolent nation’s remarkable history of humanitarian efforts across the globe will come to the fore

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 22nd May, 2019) When the UAE celebrates the annual ‘Zayed Humanitarian Work Day’, which falls on 19th Ramadan, this benevolent nation’s remarkable history of humanitarian efforts across the globe will come to the fore.

The Day on 24th May, marking the death anniversary of the nation’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, will witness the launch of the UAE’s new humanitarian initiatives, reminiscing the great legacy of Sheikh Zayed.

The UAE has retained its position as the world’s largest donor of official development aid, relative to its gross national income, for the fifth consecutive year in 2017. The nation offered AED19.3 billion worth of development assistance in 2017, making up of 1.31 percent of its national income, according to a report by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD.

This global standing emerged through decades-long humanitarian efforts initiated by Sheikh Zayed who never considered religion, race or ethnicity of the beneficiaries. Under his directives, the amount of aid offered by the UAE till the end of 2000, had totalled more than AED98 billion.

People from Palestine to Pakistan and beyond enjoyed Zayed’s benevolence during their time in need. The Sheikh Zayed Suburb Project in occupied Jerusalem, worth nearly AED15 million, was one of the critical projects in Palestine.

Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Lebanon and Syria in the region also received support to build many critical institutions and for alleviating the sufferings of natural calamities as well.

However, Sheikh Zayed’s charity was not limited to Arab and Islamic countries, but extended to developed world and international organisations also.

US$5 million donation to the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was an example. His US$50,000-donation to the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, soon after the establishment of the UAE; US$424,000 to the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP; and US$54,000 to the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, reflected his concern for international institutions.

Sheikh Zayed did not restrict the humanitarian efforts as mere individual initiatives but successfully institutionalised them, enabling his younger generation to continue that legacy.

That wisdom is reflected in the establishment and still continuing successful functioning of the UAE’s globally known charity institutions, such as the Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and the Emirates Red Crescent, ERC.