The United Nations has said that 383 aid workers were killed in 2024, describing the figure as a “shameful indictment” of international apathy.
In a statement to mark the World Humanitarian Day, the UN said that the 2024 figure was 31 percent higher than what was recorded the year before.
It said that the relentless conflicts in Gaza had claimed the lives of 181 humanitarian workers.
The UN further revealed that 60 people lost their lives in Sudan, saying state actors were the most common perpetrators of the killings in 2024.
According to the the international organisation, most of those killed were local staff attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.
The statement added that 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 kidnapped and 45 detained last year.
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres said, “Humanitarians must be respected and protected. They can never be targeted. This rule is non-negotiable and is binding on all parties to conflict, always and everywhere. Yet red lines are crossed with impunity.”
He called for perpetrators to be brought to justice.
Provisional figures from the Aid Worker Security Database show that 265 aid workers had been killed this year.
The UN aid chief Tom Fletcher, head of its humanitarian agency OCHA, said, “Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy. Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end.”
In separate statements, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement said 18 of their staff and volunteers had been killed so far this year on duty.
The movement said, “Each killing sends a dangerous message that their lives were expendable. They were not.”
Meanwhile, the UN’s World Health Organization said 1,121 health workers and patients had been killed.
It added that hundreds were injured in attacks across 16 territories, saying most deaths were in Sudan.
The WHO said, “Each attack inflicts lasting harm, deprives entire communities of life-saving care when they need it the most, endangers health care providers, and weakens already strained health systems.”
OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said said very few of the perpetrators were brought to justice.
The UN human rights office, however, urged the affected countries to bring perpetrators to book.
