In 2023, a record 280 humanitarian workers were killed across 33 countries, marking a 123% rise from 2022, when 118 humanitarian workers died, according to UN statistics.
Over half of the humanitarian workers killed last year died in the Gaza Strip (163), primarily due to airstrikes, with South Sudan and Sudan following with 34 and 25 fatalities, respectively, and the top 10 countries with the highest fatalities also including Israel and Syria (7 each), Ethiopia and Ukraine (6 each), Somalia (5), and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar (4 each).
Joyce Msuya from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated on Monday that increasing violence against humanitarian workers and the absence of accountability for such acts are unacceptable and pose a severe threat to global humanitarian efforts.
The UN has cautioned that the current year may become even more devastating, with 176 humanitarian workers having been killed from January to August 9, including 121 in Palestinian territories, and over 280 deaths reported in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, mostly among staff from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
On Monday, representatives from various humanitarian organizations will issue a joint letter to UN member states, urging "an end to attacks on civilians, safeguarding all humanitarian workers, and holding those accountable," as stated by OCHA, which is encouraging support for the campaign using the hashtag #ActforHumanity.
World Humanitarian Day, observed on August 19, commemorates the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, including UN Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello, and wounded 150 humanitarian workers.
Source: IAR/PAP/UN/UNICEF
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