HE Ibrahim Bu Milha, Vice President of the Board of the International Humanitarian City (IHC), today presented the Humanitarian Journalism award to Journalist Hanan Khandaqjy for coverage of “Physical and verbal abuse to people with disabilities in private care centers” during the Arab Journalism Awards. Most of the large humanitarian emergencies affect countries in the MENA region and coverage in the Arab media is critical to gaining support to help the victims of these crises. The IHC was founded by HH Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to offer Dubai’s support, especially in transport and logistics, to UN agencies and NGOs delivering humanitarian aid.

“Humanitarian Journalism” is a new category in the awards and seeks to promote greater coverage by Arab journalists of both emergency and development activities. The prize has a value of $15,000 and was established at the request of UN Messenger of Peace and Chairperson of IHC Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who strongly believes in the crucial role the media plays in recognizing the work of aid agencies who help revive and rebuild communities wherever a humanitarian crisis occurs.

The IHC and the Dubai Press Club collaborated to urge media organizations and individuals focusing on humanitarian journalism to submit entries for the new category of the Award. For all categories, the award Secretariat received more than four thousand articles from 19 Arab countries as well as 12 foreign countries issuing Arabic publications, registering a growth rate of 5% from last year and the Arab journalism for young people category received 21% of the total submissions.