We are here in memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello and the 21 other men and women, most of them UN workers, who died with him in the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003. We remember all those who died, to acknowledge each valuable life cut short, and the families who share, even today, in their sacrifice. We also remember them for the power of the example they set: brave individuals from 11 different countries, working to help Iraqi people, at the direction of the United Nations Security Council, and on behalf of us all. This is sometimes forgotten: that in serving under the UN flag they died in our names, as our representatives. At their head was Sergio Vieira de Mello, a man of extraordinary grace and ability, as so many who knew him testify. A man who gave 30 years to the United Nations, rising from a field officer to High Commissioner for Human Rights and Special Representative to Iraq.

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