Aid workers rushing to save lives worldwide are increasingly becoming targets for attack, in a worrying development for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) trying to ease suffering in war zones.
From South Sudan, where roaming militias killed six aid workers this month — three in an ambush — to Gaza, where 11 UN staff members were killed in attacks on UN-run shelters, relief workers are living dangerously.
Over the past decade, the number of aid workers killed in attacks has tripled, surpassing 100 deaths per year, UN officials say.
Afghanistan, South Sudan and Syria rank as the most dangerous countries for humanitarian staff.
“Fifteen years ago, the greatest risk to the lives of aid workers were road-traffic accidents. That is no longer the case. Violent incidents claim the lives of more aid workers than anything else,” the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) Bob Kitchen said.
With operations in more than 40 countries, the IRC has lost 12 staff over the past six years: five executed by the Taliban in 2011 and two killed in April in an attack on the UN base in Bor, South Sudan.
Kitchen, who heads the IRC’s emergency response team, attributes the increase to the changing nature of warfare, with more civilians being displaced internally, either unable or unwilling to flee the country.
“We are increasingly seeing the need for aid organizations to go into environments of war,” he said.
Armed groups such as the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, consider aid workers a legitimate target.
“More and more, we’re seeing parties to conflicts around the world ignore the rules of war to achieve a political end,” head of operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs John Ging said.
“I believe unfortunately that we are seeing more attacks on humanitarian workers as part of a growing deficit of humanity in conflict and in global politics,” he added.
The UN Security Council is expected to discuss ways of better protecting aid workers during a meeting tomorrow that coincides with World Humanitarian Day, which marks a 2003 attack on the UN compound in Baghdad in which 22 UN staff were killed.
For UN aid worker Ken Payumo, helping civilians in South Sudan meant standing up to armed soldiers who demanded access to the UN compound in Bor after thousands had sheltered there, including probable rebel supporters.
On Jan. 19, Payumo ordered the gates of the compound shut and refused to let the soldiers in. He stood unarmed with two other UN officials outside the compound refusing to let them in as about 80 battle-weary men pointed rifles at him.
“I remember making a decision at that time that everyone in that compound was really more important than I was,” former New York police officer Payumo, 46, said. “If we didn’t show how serious we were in protecting civilians right there and then, it would have been a very different story and we would have had to live with it.”
The soldiers did leave, but a few months later, the compound was attacked, killing close to 50. Payumo had by then left Bor, but the experience has not deterred him.
“The reality is that wherever humanitarians are working, it’s not because it’s a peaceful environment; something has gone wrong somewhere,” he said.
Researcher Larissa Fast said that the rise in the number of attacks on aid workers is “just the tip of the iceberg.”
“The everyday incidents, such as being stopped at a checkpoint, being denied access to populations, a threat communicated via SMS or letter, or the theft of equipment or supplies ... have a much greater effect in terms of preventing or hindering the work of aid agencies and the delivery of aid. Yet these types of incidents receive far less attention,” said Fast, who tracks threats to aid workers at the Kroc Institute of the University of Notre Dame.
Fast said agencies need to pay more attention to risk management. Many are focusing on “community liaison,” relying on locals to help keep their staff safe.
Developing ties with local communities means “they will say to us, ‘Listen, it’s not safe for you to come today.’ That makes a massive difference for our security,” Fast said.
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