“The World Humanitarian Day should be an occasion to remember the needy, hungry, poor and deprived people in order to provide relief to them and communicate with them the meanings of togetherness and true humanitarian brotherhood,” Adnan Khalil Basha said.

He also called for making the day an occasion to fight hunger resulting from drought and desertification in Somalia and other parts of Africa and also an occasion to help the displaced and victims of political unrest in a number of Arab countries.

He stressed that humanitarian work is an inseparable part of the concept of human rights. He said human aid is a legitimate right of man any time, anywhere. “Depriving man of this right will mean his certain death. Subsequently, humanitarian work is an integral part of human rights,” he said.

The secretary-general pointed out that man's innate right to life, education, health, safety and protection against discrimination and repression have been guaranteed by all divine religions and man-made laws.

He referred to the noble humanitarian work IIROSA has been doing since its inception in 1979 and said that the organization was able to sponsor 301,296 male and female orphans in 47 orphanages and 24 centers in a number of countries of the world.

“Many of them completed their higher education and hold senior positions in their countries,” he added.

He stressed the significance of education as a basic human right and said the organization has provided education to more than 2.2 million male and female students in 1,184 schools in which 5,412 teachers worked. “At present, the organization is sponsoring 38,865 male and female students studying in 38 educational institutions in 30 countries,” he added.

He also said IIROSA has provided relief to more than 31 million victims of wars, famines, drought, rains, floods, cyclones, volcanoes, fires and earthquakes. “More than 88.5 million people in 143 countries have benefited from IIROSA's programs and projects,” he said.

He recalled that IIROSA has provided Iftar Sayem meals (food items provided to help people break their fast) for about 19 million Muslims inside the Kingdom and abroad. It has also distributed 5 million heads of Adahi sheep in addition to 762,140 meals among pilgrims.