The humanitarian face of mail
The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA), the Universal Postal Union and Swiss Post unveiled four stamps today to raise awareness of the importance of “humanitarian mail” in times of natural catastrophes or conflicts.
The UNPA issued three stamps, one for each of the UN Offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna, while Swiss Post issued one as a UPU official stamp. It is the first time that the three organizations work together on a common issue.
The four stamps were unveiled during a ceremony at UPU headquarters by Adolf OGI, Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General on Sport for Development and Peace, Edouard DAYAN, UPU Director General, Robert GRAY, Head of the UNPA in New York, and Ulrich GYGI, Chief Executive of Swiss Post.
From left to right: Adolf OGI, Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General on Sport for Development and Peace, Robert GRAY, Head of the UNPA in New York, Edouard DAYAN, UPU Director General, and Ulrich GYGI, Chief Executive of Swiss Post, unveiling the new “humanitarian mail” stamps at UPU headquarters in Berne (Switzerland).
The stamps all share a common design – a letter carrier holding a letter in one hand as he floats over a sea of hands reaching for the letter. “The design symbolizes the UN’s and the UPU’s commitment to delivering food, aid, material and mail to the victims of natural disasters or armed conflicts,” explained Robert GRAY. In certain cases, humanitarian mail enables people to find lost relatives and serves as a communication link when other communication means have been destroyed or have broken down.
The range of areas in which mail is used to provide humanitarian support is wide and varied. After a devastating tsunami hit South Asia in 2004, postal operators delivered millions of donations to aid organizations and in the affected areas used their trucks and facilities to distribute and store humanitarian aid arriving from all over the world.
Each year, donors and aid organizations use mail to send millions of dollars for humanitarian causes. In some cases, the funds generated through humanitarian mail are donated directly to people in need by providing money for basic food, medical and other supplies.
A special joint-issue silk first day cover was also released today to coincide with the humanitarian mail stamp issue. The special silk cover consists of the three UN stamp values and the UPU official stamp issued by the Swiss Post. Each silk cover is sequentially numbered and the stamps are cancelled with the appropriate first day of issue cancellation from the two postal administrations. The text “Humanitarian Mail” and the UN and UPU logos are in gold foil.
