An UNRWA worker provides aid to children in Gaza. World Humanitarian Day: UN calls for protection of aid workers Humanitarian Aid
More and more aid workers are killed in the line of duty each year. On World Humanitarian Day, the UN and partners are calling for guarantees to protect their staff and all civilians.
Last year, 280 aid workers were killed in 33 countries, a 137 percent increase from 2022, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. This is a record high, OCHA emphasizes.
UN Chief António Guterres said in his message on the occasion of the World Day that in a “climate of impunity,” those responsible for spreading misinformation about humanitarian organizations and violence against them do not fear consequences.
“We demand that governments put pressure on all parties to conflicts to protect civilians,” he added. “We must all do more to preserve our common humanity.”
Victims Rise
More aid workers could die in 2024, the UN says. As of August 7, 172 aid workers had been killed, OCHA said, citing preliminary data.
The agency said more than half of the deaths in 2023 were recorded in the first three months of fighting in Gaza, or from October to December. A significant number of them were the result of airstrikes.
More than 280 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October, most of them from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Violence in Sudan and South Sudan has also led to increased death tolls in 2023 and 2024. In all conflicts, the majority of those killed were local staff working for humanitarian organizations in their countries.
An unacceptable situation
“The normalization of violence against humanitarian workers and the lack of accountability are unacceptable, unconscionable and detrimental to humanitarian operations worldwide,” said Joyce Msuya, acting UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
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“Today, we once again demand that those in power take action to end violations against civilians and the impunity with which these abhorrent attacks are carried out,” she added.
Public Support
World Humanitarian Day is observed annually on August 19. In 2003, on this day, a bombing at the UN headquarters in Baghdad killed 22 humanitarian workers, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq.
The day is intended to focus the world community’s attention on efforts to protect the lives, well-being and dignity of people caught in crises, as well as to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers.
The 2024 campaign aims to build public support and pressure on warring parties and world leaders to better protect civilians, including humanitarian workers, in conflict zones.
In a joint letter, the humanitarian community called on the international community to stop attacks on civilians, protect humanitarian workers, and hold those responsible to account.
“The brutal fighting we have seen in many conflicts around the world has exposed a terrible truth: we live in an era of impunity,” they said.
According to the letter, first, attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure must stop and active measures to protect them.
Second, the document calls for the protection of all humanitarian workers, as well as the premises and property of organizations, ensuring that their work is facilitated, as provided for in UN Security Council Resolution 2730.
Third, the authors called for those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law to be held accountable.
They also stressed that there is no need to wait for a special date such as World Humanitarian Day to recall obligations under international humanitarian law: it must be respected every day.