The “unacceptable” degree of violence against humanitarian workers that has become the norm was denounced by the UN on Monday; 280 of them lost their lives globally in 2023.
Additionally, it issued a warning that this year’s Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza may contribute to an even greater toll of these fatalities.
“The normalization of violence against aid workers and the lack of accountability are unacceptable, unconscionable and enormously harmful for aid operations everywhere,” Joyce Msuya, acting director of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in a statement on World Humanitarian Day.
“With 280 aid workers killed in 33 countries last year, 2023 marked the deadliest year on record for the global humanitarian community,” a 137 percent increase over 2022, when 118 aid workers died, OCHA said in the statement.
The Aid Worker Security Database, which has tracked these numbers since 1997, was quoted.
According to the UN, 163 out of the 163 fatalities in 2023 were relief workers who were killed in Gaza in the first three months of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, primarily as a result of airstrikes.
The next deadliest wars for humanitarians are South Sudan, which is devastated by civil unrest, and Sudan, where a war between two opposing generals has been waging since April 2023, with 34 and 25 deaths, respectively.
Along with Ethiopia and Ukraine (six deaths apiece), Somalia (five fatalities), Israel and Syria (seven deaths apiece), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (four deaths) round out the top ten.
In all the conflicts, most of the deaths are among local staff.
Despite 2023’s “outrageously high number” of aid worker fatalities, OCHA said 2024 “may be on track for an even deadlier outcome.”
As of August 9, 176 aid workers have been killed worldwide, according to the Aid Worker Security Database.
More than 280 humanitarian workers have died in Gaza since Hamas-led militants launched a fatal foray into Israel in October, which started the conflict, most of them were working for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, according to OCHA.
In light of this, the heads of several humanitarian groups planned to write a letter to UN member states on Monday urging them to “put an end to attacks on civilians, safeguard all aid workers, and hold those responsible for their actions accountable.”
Each year the United Nations marks World Humanitarian Day on August 19, the anniversary of the 2003 attack on its Baghdad headquarters.
The bombing killed 22 people including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN special representative to Iraq, and injured some 150 local and foreign aid workers.
