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In 2023, more aid workers died by violence than in any previous year on record, with 280 fatalities reported in 33 countries. 163 of these deaths were aid workers killed in the first three months of the war on Gaza.
A humanitarian responder from Caritas walks amid the ruined cityscape of Gaza, 2024. Photo credit: Caritas Jerusalem
Today, World Humanitarian Day, is a day dedicated to the memory of humanitarian workers that have been killed or injured while serving communities around the world. For Trócaire and our partners, it is a day to remember those who have dedicated their lives to helping others; to celebrate their work and the work of all those who continue to assist those in need, often at great personal risk. This year has been especially deadly for our partners in Gaza, with two members of Caritas Jerusalem killed in Gaza during the first month of Israeli bombardment.
Why do we mark World Humanitarian Day on August 19th?
World Humanitarian Day has its roots in Baghdad, in the awful early days of the Iraq War. On the 19th of August 2003, a bomb blast at the United Nations compound killed 22 UN staff and injured 150 others. Among those killed was the charismatic humanitarian and diplomat, Sergio Vieira de Mello, then the UN’s top representative in Iraq. His life and untimely death was subsequently documented in a popular Netflix film.
A memorial service for Sergio de Mello, 2003. Photo: UN Photo Service/Timothy Sopp
Attacks on humanitarian aid workers were not unheard of before 2003, and had been rising through the 1990s. In one particularly notorious case, staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Chechnya, who were there to serve the war-wounded population, were killed in their sleep, forcing the ICRC to suspend operations. But the blue flag of the UN was considered almost sacred, a rare guarantee of staff security in war-torn contexts.
This UN flag was recovered following the UN compound bombing in Baghdad on 19 Aug 2003.
On #WorldHumanitarianDay
, we honor humanitarians killed & injured in the line of duty & thank all aid workers, especially in #Afghanistan
, #Haiti
& #Tigray
, who #StayAndDeliver.
pic.twitter.com/M5aTMHbWv8—
UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) August
18, 2021
As the early years of this century progressed, attacks on aid workers began to increase substantially, with a series of mass casualty attacks in Sri Lanka, South Sudan, Algeria and Somalia. As respect for international law and hard-won norms around staff security began to decrease around the world, so did impunity for those carrying out the attacks, with very few of the perpetrators brought to justice.
The turning point for worsening aid worker casualties arguably occurred in the early 2010s. As the Syrian and Yemeni Civil wars worsened, organised attacks on medical and humanitarian personnel – to erode capacity and morale – increased significantly. Until last year, 2013 was the worst year for aid worker fatalities.
Aid Worker Security Database/Humanitarian Outcomes, August 2024
The frequency and severity of attacks in Syria and Yemen, along with the bombing of the Médecins San Frontières hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan by the US military in 2015, gave rise to the use of a controversial system known as ‘Deconfliction’, whereby warring parties would be given more accurate information by humanitarian agencies on their whereabouts in exchange for assurances of not coming under fire. With or without deconfliction protocols, targeting civilians or destroying things essential for their survival is a breach of international humanitarian law and a war crime.
In most crises, the vast majority of humanitarian assistance is delivered by people from affected communities, by local and national staff with immediate access to those caught up in the crisis. These humanitarian responders are disproportionately affected by violence: every year for the past twenty years at least the majority of aid workers that have been killed or injured around the world have been local or national staff.
Tragically, the trend of attacks on humanitarian responders has soared in the last year, with more aid workers killed than in the precious two years combined. Sudan and South Sudan remain particularly deadly environments for civilians and humanitarian responders, but it is Gaza – with over half of the recorded fatalities – that has become the most dangerous place on earth to be an aid worker. Although we are less than two thirds of the way through the year, already 192 aid workers are confirmed to have died violently in 2024, including over 100 in Gaza.
Smoking wreckage on a street in Gaza after bombardment from the Israeli military. Photo credit: Caritas Jerusalem
In other conflicts, in countries that have become notorious for aid worker security through the years – such as Afghanistan, Sudan, South Sudan and countries of the Lake Chad Basin – the vast majority of aid workers have died in shootings, ambushes, raids or attacks on their road convoy. In contrast, in countries such as Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, where aerial bombardment is a more central feature of conflict, death has more often come from above.
This is the case in Gaza, where in a matter of months, more bombs were dropped on an area one third of the size of County Dublin, with double the population, than the amount dropped on London, Hamburg, and Dresden combined during WW2.
Amongst the thousands of people killed by these bombs were two colleagues at Trócaire’s sister organisation, Caritas Jerusalem: Issam Abedrabbo, a 35 year old pharmacist and father of three and Viola Al ‘Amash, who was killed alongside her entire family when the church they were sheltering was bombed by the Israeli air force. She was 26 years old.
In October, Viola Al ‘Amash (26), another Caritas Jerusalem staff member was killed alongside her husband and infant daughter in an airstrike attack on the St. Porphyrios Church in Gaza. Viola’s sister and her two children were also killed. The church provided refuge for 400 plus people including Caritas staff and their families. At least 17 people lost their lives in the attack.
To mark World Humanitarian Day this year, the global humanitarian community is trying to confront the impunity surrounding attacks on aid workers and calling on world leaders to be accountable for upholding international humanitarian law.
Trócaire, along with other humanitarian organisations are pleading with global leaders to #ActForHumanity; to reverse this spiralling global trend of violence, hold perpetrators to account for their war crimes and begin to restore our collective humanity at this dark time.
