Submit this form
Home News Videos Music Photos Facebook Twitter Friends Newsletter Podcasts Mobile RSS
UN: Risks Increasing For Humanitarian Aid Workers

VOA News - August 19, 2010
António Guterres

In observing this year's World Humanitarian Day, the United Nations aims to raise public awareness of the risks run by the men and women who provide aid to victims of conflict and natural disasters around the world. The day also honors humanitarian workers who have lost their lives or been injured while on the job.

Global crisis

Catastrophic floods in Pakistan are affecting an estimated 20 million people. A powerful earthquake in Haiti early this year has affected about three million people, hundreds of thousands of whom are still without proper shelter.

Millions of people are suffering from drought in Niger. Millions more are struggling to survive in war-torn Afghanistan, in Iraq, in the Democratic Republic of Congo -- and the list goes on.

Wherever there is war, wherever a natural disaster occurs, humanitarian workers quickly appear on the scene. If there were no humanitarian workers, hundreds of millions of victims of man-made and natural disasters would be without help -- and many would not survive.

Risk to life

Despite the vital service they provide, the United Nations says humanitarian workers are under increasing threat. A spokeswoman for the World Food Program, Emilia Casella, tells VOA humanitarian workers are running increasing risks to their safety.

"In 1999, there were 30 humanitarians who were killed on the job. And, I would like to point out the vast majority of those were actually national staff in the country they were working in. Ten years later, last year, there were 102 humanitarian workers killed on the job and our own organization," Casella said. "The World Food Program lost 16 people last year in incidents, while they were carrying out work to feed the most hungry and vulnerable people in the world."

Casella says there is a misperception that humanitarian aid is delivered exclusively by Western organizations, many of whom are motivated by ideological or religious beliefs.

She says this false perception is responsible, in large part, for the escalating targeted attacks on humanitarian personnel. The reality, she says, is quite different. She notes most humanitarian workers are local people. And, all humanitarian workers, she says, administer aid in a neutral and independent way.

"When you see your colleagues who lose their lives or who are injured when they are doing really vital and important jobs, it makes you feel angry and upset that it is not understood that what they are there to do is something that nobody else is willing to do," Casella explaines. "They are there to help children, widows, the elderly--people who cannot help themselves.

Events impacting aid operations

Seven years ago, on August 19, a terrorist bomb destroyed the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. At least 22 people were killed, including Special Representative, Sergio Vieiro de Mello. More than 100 people were wounded.

A second bombing a month later resulted in the UN withdrawing its 600 staff members from Iraq, to the detriment of humanitarian operations.

WFP's Casella says it is important for people to understand humanitarian workers are doing a vitally important job. She says without them, there would be a lot more suffering in the world.


Related articles


  1. Ebola outbreak declared an international Public Health Emergency (July 17, 2019)
  2. UN Report Blames Ugandan Islamists for 237 Killings in DR Congo (May 14, 2015)
  3. Senior UN officials urge Brazzaville to halt expulsion of DR Congo nationals (May 26, 2014)
  4. Security Council extends UN mission, intervention force in DR Congo for one year (March 28, 2014)
  5. Ban Ki-moon Confirms M23 Rebels Shelled Rwanda (August 31, 2013)
  6. M23 Rebels Fired Shells Into Rwanda, Not Congo Army, UN Says (August 30, 2013)
  7. UN Security Council approves intervention force to target armed groups in DR Congo (March 28, 2013)
  8. Regional Leaders Sign DR Congo Peace Deal (February 24, 2013)
  9. The M23 Rebels Want to Overthrow Kabila? Nonsense (November 28, 2012)
  10. Thousands of Women March Against M23 Rebels in Kinshasa (November 24, 2012)
  11. Protests Against M23 Rebels, Government and UN Spread (November 22, 2012)
  12. Thousands Protest M23 Capture of Goma, Turn on Government and UN (November 21, 2012)
  13. UN Security Council condemns 'any and all outside support' to M23 rebels (October 19, 2012)
  14. U.S. and U.K. Must Tell Rwanda to Stop Supporting Rebels in DR Congo, Global Witness Says (June 29, 2012)
  15. Kagame Is A Problem for The U.S. and The U.K. (June 23, 2012)
  16. US blocking UN report on Ntaganda rebels, Human Rights Watch says (June 21, 2012)
  17. UN Report Accuses Rwanda of Supporting Bosco Ntaganda Rebels (May 28, 2012)
  18. UN, AU vow to eradicate Ugandan rebel group LRA in 2012 (January 5, 2012)
  19. UN Security Council calls for credible and peaceful elections (October 17, 2011)
  20. DR Congo Has Returned to Peace, Kabila Tells UN General Assembly (September 23, 2011)
  21. Case of UN Employee Caught Smuggling Minerals Not Unique (August 25, 2011)
  22. UN Employee Arrested for Trying to Smuggle Tin Ore (August 22, 2011)
  23. UN envoy tells Security Council of improving security, remaining threats (June 9, 2011)
  24. UN Security Council discusses key challenges and risks in an election year in DR Congo (May 18, 2011)
  25. UN names some of the victims of deadly plane crash (April 6, 2011)
  26. UN plane crashes in Kinshasa (April 4, 2011)
  27. Plight of the Congo Is Focus of U.S. Congress Hearing (March 8, 2011)
  28. Military Operations Have Weakened the LRA, Says UN (February 23, 2011)
  29. Army colonel gets 20 years for ordering mass rape in eastern Congo (February 21, 2011)
  30. UN Security Council renews DR Congo sanctions (November 29, 2010)


Live TV Congo Radio en ligne Radio
Available on App Store
Get it on Google Play



Contact Us | About Us | Édition en Français | French Edition

© CongoPlanet.com. All rights reserved.