UNITED NATIONS, United States — On Monday, the United Nations condemned the alarming rise in violence against humanitarian workers worldwide, calling the situation “unacceptable.” In 2023 alone, a record 280 aid workers were killed globally.
The UN warned that the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza could push this year’s numbers even higher.
“The normalization of violence against aid workers and the lack of accountability are unacceptable, unconscionable, and severely undermine aid operations everywhere,” said Joyce Msuya, acting director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in a statement on World Humanitarian Day.
The year 2023 saw a sharp increase in aid worker fatalities, marking the deadliest year on record for the global humanitarian community, with a staggering 137 percent rise in deaths compared to 2022. More than half of the 2023 fatalities—163 in total—occurred in Gaza during the first three months of the Israel-Hamas war, primarily due to airstrikes.
Countries like South Sudan, ravaged by civil strife, and Sudan, embroiled in a conflict between rival generals since April 2023, were among the most dangerous for aid workers, reporting 34 and 25 deaths, respectively. Other deadly regions included Israel, Syria, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Somalia, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Local staff were the most affected in these conflicts.
Despite the harrowing toll in 2023, OCHA warned that 2024 could surpass these numbers, with 176 aid workers already killed by August 9. In Gaza alone, more than 280 aid workers have died since October, most of them working for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees.
In response to the crisis, humanitarian leaders were set to send a letter urging UN member states to take action to protect aid workers, end attacks on civilians, and hold those responsible accountable.
World Humanitarian Day, observed on August 19, commemorates the 2003 bombing of the UN’s Baghdad headquarters, which claimed 22 lives, including that of UN special representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.