Geneva  - The United Nations was marking Wednesday as the first World Humanitarian Day, to recall the dangers humanitarian aid workers face while carrying out their missions in conflict zones.

August 19, the day in 2003 a car bomb hit the UN's headquarters at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, was chosen last year by the UN General Assembly as the date for the commemorations, and was set to become an annual event.

Among the 22 people killed in the Baghdad attack was Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN special envoy to Iraq and a former high commissioner for human rights.

"Killing those who are trying to help others is a particularly despicable crime, and one which all governments should join forces to prevent, and, when prevention fails, to punish," said the current high commissioner Navi Pillay.

According to CARE International, an aid agency, 122 humanitarians were killed in 2008 in various hot spots around the globe.

"The days are gone when driving in a white jeep with a humanitarian logo was a guarantee of safety. Today, aid has become a target," Jonathan Mitchell, CARE's emergency response director, said in a prepared statement.

"Just like you would never attack a hospital, you should never attack a humanitarian worker," Mitchell added.

Field specialists at various humanitarian outlets, including the Red Cross and the UN, all say that the last decade has seen a deterioration in the security of aid workers.

More and more, humanitarians become the intentional targets of attacks, in attempts by militants to create chaos, obtain political goals or for less ideological reasons, such as cash.

"With governments and militarise increasingly using development work to win the 'hearts and minds' of people in conflict situations, aid workers have become the preferred and easy targets of militant groups looking to strike back at governments or armies," CARE said in a statement.

For the most part, though, aid groups continue to work in dangerous places, scaling back operations when necessary and moving in again as soon as the opportunity arises.

"Humanity is the principle that suffering must be addressed wherever it is found," said Graham Farmer, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Somalia.

The troubled African country saw 42 aid workers killed in 2008, and 13 were still being held captive.

"Despite the many obstacles facing humanitarian workers, lifesaving humanitarian assistance continues to be provided throughout the country," Farmer added, issuing a plea to the various armed groups in Somalia to allow his teams to distribute aid.

A memorial bust of the slain de Mello, with names of all the victims of the car bomb, stands outside the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. A Georgian artist created the sculpture which was donated by the Russian foreign ministry in 2007. (dpa)