The United Nations on Monday condemned the “unacceptable” level of violence against humanitarian workers, with a record 280 of them killed worldwide in 2023.
The ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is highlighted as a potential contributor to the rise in such deaths this year.
Speaking on World Humanitarian Day, Joyce Msuya, acting director of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), expressed grave concern, saying, “The normalization of violence against aid workers and the lack of accountability are unacceptable, unconscionable, and extremely detrimental to aid operations around the globe.”
According to OCHA, 2023 saw the deadliest year on record for the humanitarian community, with a 137 percent increase in aid worker fatalities compared to 2022, totaling 280 deaths across 33 countries.
The Aid Worker Security Database, which has been tracking such figures since 1997, confirmed the alarming trend.
Out of the 280 deaths in 2023, over half, or 163, were aid workers killed in Gaza during the initial three months of the Israel-Hamas conflict, primarily due to air strikes.
Other highly dangerous regions for humanitarian workers include South Sudan, with 34 deaths, and Sudan, with 25 deaths resulting from ongoing civil strife and war between rival generals.
Additionally, Israel and Syria reported seven fatalities each, Ethiopia and Ukraine had six deaths each, Somalia recorded five deaths, and both Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo registered four fatalities each.
In all these conflicts, the majority of the casualties are local staff members.
Despite the shockingly high number of aid worker fatalities in 2023, OCHA warned that 2024 could potentially surpass this figure, as 176 aid workers have already lost their lives globally as of August 9.
Since the outbreak of the Hamas-led militants’ raid into Israel in October, which sparked the conflict, over 280 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, many of whom were UN agency employees assisting Palestinian refugees.
Given these circumstances, leaders from various humanitarian organizations are set to deliver a letter to UN member states on Monday, urging the international community to stop attacks on civilians, safeguard all aid workers, and hold perpetrators accountable.
World Humanitarian Day is observed annually on August 19, commemorating the 2003 attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad, which claimed the lives of 22 individuals, including UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello, and injured around 150 local and foreign aid workers.
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