Dramatic increase in humanitarian workers killed in conflicts, with “no one held accountable”, warns UN

Aid workers were targeted by “unacceptable” violence in 2023, according to the UN. Worldwide, 280 of them died that year. A dramatic increase linked to the war in Gaza and a number that could worsen in 2024.

In 2023, 280 humanitarians were killed in all the world’s conflicts. This figure has more than doubled compared to 2022. This violence is becoming “normal”the UN is indignant and “no one is accountable.” These two observations are “unacceptable, inadmissible and extremely dangerous for humanitarian operations everywhere”, declared the organization on Monday, August 19, 2024, on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day, which recalls the collective responsibility in protecting civilians and humanitarian workers in conflicts and other crises.

Of the 280 aid workers killed, 163 were in Gaza, during the first three months of the war, mostly in airstrikes. Images of ripped-open vehicles, accounts of Israeli soldiers shooting during chaotic food aid distributions, UN staff working with Palestinian refugees have been the most affected. “This is unacceptable,” Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, said in April: “but it is the inevitable result of the way the war is being waged”Among the 40,000 dead in Gaza, there are so many civilians; humanitarians are trying to support them.

The UN recalls that the danger threatening humanitarians exists in 33 countries in total. In 2023, 34 humanitarians died in South Sudan, and 25 in Sudan, the two countries where the deadliest conflicts are located after that of Israel with Hamas. But if 2023 was terrible, “never seen”, The UN is also concerned about 2024. Since the beginning of the year, there has been the highly publicized case in Gaza of seven people who worked for the NGO World Central Kitchen. The organization’s convoy, which provides fresh meals in dangerous areas, was wrongly targeted by three Israeli strikes. Three Britons died, as well as a Palestinian, an American-Canadian, an Australian and a Pole. The Australian government’s investigation report concluded that “serious failure of the Israeli army”.

Today, still in Gaza, the UN is calling for pauses in the fighting so its teams can vaccinate 640,000 children with a minimum of security. Polio is back in the small territory after a 25-year absence.

Faced with the crimes committed, often with complete impunity, the UN has put online a video in which heads of state are called upon to take responsibility.You are committed to protecting civilians from war, humanitarian workers, to supporting the lifeline, the lifeline that they offer, states the video over its images: What we see here is the result of your failure. What more do you need to see before you act?

At the same time, the UN is calling on the general public to share the hashtag “Act for Humanity” on social media in support.