World Humanitarian Day 2024 Marked by Severe Aid Access Constraints and Violence After Deadliest Year for Humanitarians

August 15, 2024

From Gaza to Sudan to Haiti to Ukraine, humanitarian workers face more lethal risks, operational challenges, and access constraints than ever before. According to the UN, 2023 was the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers with 280 aid workers killed last year alone. 2024 is on track to be even worse, with 176 humanitarians already killed in conflict zones around the world. The safety of our staff in these countries and globally is essential to our ability to provide life-saving assistance to millions trying to survive through horrific and protracted violence. 

  

Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Corps, says: 

“We are seeing a blatant disregard for 75 years of International Humanitarian Law that is eroding the foundation of our collective humanity. The world has reached a perilous tipping point where the safe delivery of humanitarian aid is no longer guaranteed and civilians most in need are the ones who suffer. We’ve all witnessed the systematic blocking of aid and attacks on civilian infrastructure including healthcare centers, aid convoys, ambulances, schools, and shelters.  

“Today on World Humanitarian Day we mourn and honor the brave individuals who continue their life-saving work in perilous conditions and make the ultimate sacrifice, and we demand action to protect aid workers, civilians, and civilian infrastructure under assault. We demand all world leaders act with humanity and end impunity.” 

Some of the deadliest humanitarian hotspots include: 

  • Gaza: Gaza is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an aid worker today: more than 250 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7—more than in any other conflict in the past 20 years. Aid organizations face mounting obstacles to delivering aid into and within Gaza, including attacks on convoys, storage and distribution infrastructure, recurrent communications blackouts, damaged roads, restrictions on essential supplies, and fuel shortages. Today there is very little aid entering Gaza since the Rafah offensive brought the aid response to a halt. 
     
  • Sudan and South Sudan: Since April 2023, at least 22 aid workers have been killed and 34 injured in Sudan while aid workers continue to face systematic obstructions, deliberate denials of access by parties to the conflict, and attacks. Movements across conflict lines to parts of Khartoum, Darfur, Al Jazirah and Kordofan have been severely restricted since mid-December. Limited assistance is trickling into Darfur, parts of which are facing famine. In neighboring South Sudan, more aid workers have been killed, wounded, or kidnapped over the past decade than any other country.  
     
  • Haiti: Between February 2020 and February 2024, 43 aid workers have been killed, injured, kidnapped, or arrested and those that remain in the country face increased barriers including gang violence, restrictions on movement, and violence against humanitarian personnel, goods and infrastructure.  
     
  • Ukraine: Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, at least 105 aid workers have been killed, with the number of incidents impacting humanitarian operations continuing to rise. 

  

One Mercy Corps team member in the Democratic Republic of Congo shared: “We operate in stressful contexts of insecurity, that is what we do, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. We were once doing training in a community and bombs fell near us. The challenge is to continue working despite the fear and the difficulties; my motivation comes from the belief that everyone deserves to live with dignity and respect. We must ensure the safety of aid workers and the communities we are working with.” 

World Humanitarian Day - recognized each year on August 19 - was established by the United Nations General Assembly to commemorate the 22 aid workers who lost their lives in a bomb attack in Baghdad in 2003, and to mobilize partners from across the humanitarian system to advocate for the survival, well-being and dignity of people affected by crises, and for the safety and security of aid workers. 

 
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