82 aid workers killed this year

This year, 82 aid workers have been killed, 97 injured, and 39 kidnapped worldwide, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced today on the occasion of International Humanitarian Day, which honors humanitarian and health workers killed or injured while providing aid in war or during natural disasters.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kalas and Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Haxha Lahbib stressed in a joint statement that "every humanitarian worker killed is not only a personal tragedy, it is also a failure of the international community to meet its most basic obligations."

In a statement, Kalas and Lahbib paid tribute to the extraordinary courage of aid workers who put themselves in danger every day to provide food, water, shelter and medical care to people in need.

"Their dedication, often in places the world has turned its back on, is one of the most powerful expressions of humanity's solidarity. Their courage often comes at a terrible price. Aid workers continue to be targeted, kidnapped and killed at an alarming rate," the statement said.

Last year, 350 aid workers were killed, 322 were injured and 235 were kidnapped, OCHA said. The highest number of aid workers was killed in Gaza for the third year in a row, with 186 killed last year, and 71 in Sudan.

"Attacks on humanitarian personnel, hospitals and civilian facilities are not coincidences, but violations of international humanitarian law. And the law is clear: protecting civilians, including aid workers, is not optional. Impunity only encourages further atrocities," Kalas and Lahbib said in a statement.

It added that the scale of global humanitarian suffering today is staggering, pointing to “one of the worst humanitarian crises” in Sudan, “catastrophic destruction and suffering” in Gaza, and the Russian aggression in Ukraine that has “created humanitarian needs that resonate far beyond the country’s borders.”

"New technologies are radically transforming warfare, creating new risks for civilians and further testing respect for international humanitarian law," Kalas and Lahbib pointed out.

The European Union is one of the world's largest donors of humanitarian aid, the statement said, adding that funding alone is not enough and that humanitarian diplomacy must ensure rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers to those in need.

Local aid workers, the statement points out, make up 90 percent of those targeted by attacks, and they often lack the protection available to international workers.

International Humanitarian Aid Day was established in 2008 by a decision of the UN General Assembly in memory of the 22 aid workers killed in the bombing of a hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2003.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said today that more than 1.000 aid workers have been killed in the past three years, most of whom were local workers helping their communities.

"Helping others has become more dangerous than ever," Guterres said, adding that new tools of war, including armed drones, pose new risks.

He added that disinformation is eroding trust, funding for humanitarian aid is being cut, access is being restricted, and humanitarians are being threatened, arrested, and detained.

"Attacks on humanitarian workers are unlawful, and the consequences are devastating for families struggling to survive, children waiting for food, patients in need of emergency care," Guterres said, demanding respect for the rules of warfare and ensuring access to humanitarian aid.