The United Nations has issued a stark condemnation of the escalating violence against humanitarian workers, highlighting a record 280 aid workers killed worldwide in 2023. The organization has expressed grave concern that the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is potentially contributing to an even higher number of aid worker deaths this year.
In a statement released on World Humanitarian Day, Joyce Msuya, acting director of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), called the normalization of violence against aid workers “unacceptable, unconscionable and enormously harmful for aid operations everywhere.”
According to OCHA, the 280 aid worker deaths in 2023 represent a staggering 137 percent increase compared to 2022, when 118 aid workers lost their lives. These figures are based on the Aid Worker Security Database, which has been tracking such data since 1997.
The UN highlighted that over half of the 2023 deaths, specifically 163, were aid workers killed in Gaza during the first three months of the Israel-Hamas war, predominantly in airstrikes. The conflict in South Sudan, plagued by civil strife, and Sudan, where a war between rival generals has been raging since April 2023, are the next deadliest conflicts for humanitarian workers, with 34 and 25 deaths respectively.
Other hotspots for aid worker fatalities include Israel and Syria (7 deaths each), Ethiopia and Ukraine (6 deaths each), Somalia (5 fatalities), and Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo (4 deaths each). A concerning trend across all these conflicts is the majority of victims being local staff.
Despite the “outrageously high number” of aid worker fatalities in 2023, OCHA warns that 2024 “may be on track for an even deadlier outcome.” As of August 9, the Aid Worker Security Database reported 176 aid worker deaths worldwide. Since the escalation of the Gaza conflict in October, over 280 aid workers have been killed, with a majority of them employed by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, according to OCHA.
In response to this alarming situation, leaders of numerous humanitarian organizations sent a letter to UN member states on Monday, urging the international community to “end attacks on civilians, protect all aid workers, and hold perpetrators to account.”
The United Nations annually observes World Humanitarian Day on August 19, marking the anniversary of the 2003 attack on its Baghdad headquarters. This bombing resulted in the deaths of 22 people, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN special representative to Iraq, and injured approximately 150 local and foreign aid workers.
