UNITED NATIONS, Aug 19 (IPS) – In August 2003, the United Nations faced one of its own violent tragedies when a terrorist attack on the UN headquarters in the Iraqi capital Baghdad killed 22 people.
Among the dead was Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN envoy to Iraq and High Commissioner for Human Rights, who had a long and successful career at the UN spanning more than 30 years.
As the UN commemorates World Humanitarian Day on August 19, the organization continues to face a rising number of deaths among both humanitarian workers and peacekeepers worldwide.
The day of remembrance was established by the General Assembly in 2008, following the 2003 Baghdad bombing.
At last count, at least 254 aid workers have been killed since the 10-month war in Gaza began on October 7 last year. About 188 of them worked for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
According to the UN, 2023 was the deadliest year ever for humanitarian workers, and 2024 is expected to be even worse.
In a statement ahead of World Humanitarian Day, Dennis Francis, President of the 193-member General Assembly, said aid agencies from around the world had united to call for the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel, and to ensure their safe and unhindered access, including across conflict lines.
Attacks on humanitarian workers and humanitarian assets must stop, as must attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, he said.
In addition to the UN and its agencies, there are also humanitarian organizations in war zones, including Doctors Without Borders, CARE International, Save the Children and the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
Last April, seven members of World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. The WCK said the team was traveling in a deconfliction zone in two armored cars with the WCK logo and a soft-skin vehicle.
Despite coordination of movements with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the convoy was hit as it left the warehouse in Deir al-Balah, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid that had been brought to Gaza via the sea route.
“This is not just an attack on WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations that respond to the most extreme situations where food is used as a weapon of war. This is inexcusable,” said WCK CEO Erin Gore.
The seven dead were from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, a US-Canadian citizen and Palestine.
“I am deeply saddened and shocked that we – World Central Kitchen and the world – lost beautiful lives to a targeted attack by the IDF. The love they had for feeding people, the determination they embodied to show that humanity comes first, and the impact they had on countless lives will be remembered and cherished forever,” Gore said.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than half of the deaths in 2023 were recorded in the first three months – October to December – of hostilities in Gaza, largely as a result of airstrikes.
Extreme levels of violence in Sudan and South Sudan have also contributed to the tragic death toll in both 2023 and 2024. In all of these conflicts, the majority of casualties are among national staff. Many humanitarian workers also remain detained in Yemen.
“The normalisation of violence against aid workers and the lack of accountability are unacceptable, unconscionable and deeply damaging to aid efforts everywhere,” said Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Response Coordinator.
“Today we reiterate our demand that people in power take action to end the violations against civilians and the impunity with which these horrific attacks are committed.” On this World Humanitarian Day, aid workers and those who support their efforts around the world have organised events to show their solidarity and draw attention to the horrific toll of armed conflict, including on humanitarian personnel, she said.
In addition, a joint letter from leaders of humanitarian organizations will be sent to member states of the UN General Assembly, calling on the international community to end attacks on civilians, protect all aid workers, and hold perpetrators to account. Everyone can make their voices heard by joining the digital campaign and amplifying it with the hashtag #ActforHumanity.
Meanwhile, UN peacekeeping in conflict zones and war zones is considered virtually humanitarian, but with a military tinge, and these countries are vulnerable to attack.
At least 11 UN staff members have been killed in deliberate attacks in 2023, seven military personnel and four civilians, according to the United Nations International Civil Service Standing Committee on Security and Independence.
And 32 UN peacekeepers – 28 military personnel and four police officers, including one female police officer – were killed in deliberate attacks in 2022, the United Nations staff union said.
For the ninth year in a row, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was the deadliest peacekeeping force with 14 deaths, followed by 13 deaths in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), four deaths in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and one death in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The figures for previous years are as follows: 2021 (25 deaths); 2020 (15 deaths); 2019 (28 deaths); 2018 (34 deaths); 2017 (71 deaths); 2016 (32 deaths); 2015 (51 deaths); 2014 (61 deaths); 2013 (58 deaths); 2012 (37 deaths); 2011 (35 deaths); and 2010 (15 deaths).
Roderic Grigson, who was with the UN Emergency Force (UNEF II) on the Egyptian-Israeli border, told IPS that the job of a peacekeeper was extremely dangerous. “Our job as peacekeepers was to put ourselves between two warring forces and keep them apart while peace negotiations were taking place at the UN headquarters in New York or elsewhere.”
Sometimes, he said, it took years for those negotiations to take place. “The environment we were working in was often a recent war zone, littered with unexploded shells and mines and the debris of war.” “The opposing forces always viewed the UN peacekeepers as suspicious, and we had to work hard to gain their trust. When you traveled through the front lines to the buffer zone, you had to keep your wits about you.”
“We were never alone and were always in contact with headquarters via UHF radios in the clearly marked UN vehicles,” said Grigson, currently a book coach in Melbourne who teaches, mentors and supports writers and runs a publishing house for authors who want to self-publish their stories.
From his own experience, he said: “I can say that I have been shot at several times, that I had to wear a helmet and a bulletproof vest while doing my work, and that I have been shot at by two warring parties who wanted to make a point during negotiations.”
One of my colleagues was killed while driving the daily mail truck when the road was undermined overnight, Grigson said,
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
