United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has urged governments around the world to safeguard and support humanitarian workers.
In a video message posted on his X account in honor of World Humanitarian Day, Guterres cautioned of a record-breaking toll in 2024, as at least 383 humanitarians were killed, over half of whom were in Gaza.
He described humanitarian workers as “the last hope for more than 300 million people affected by conflict or disaster.
UN statistics show that killings of aid workers surged by 31percent between 2023 and 2024, largely fueled by the ongoing war in Gaza.
State actors were found to be the primary perpetrators of these attacks.
“International law is unequivocal: humanitarian personnel must be protected and never targeted. This principle is absolute, it applies to all conflict parties, at all times, everywhere. Yet we continue to witness these red lines being crossed with impunity,” Guterres said.
According to the Aid Worker Security Database, the highest number of serious attacks last year occurred in the Palestinian territories (194), followed by Sudan (64), South Sudan (47), Nigeria (31), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (27).
This alarming pattern has continued into 2025. By August, 265 humanitarian workers had already been killed.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in May 2024 to reaffirm “the obligation on parties to conflict and Member States to protect humanitarian personnel” and to call for independent investigations into violations.
“The frameworks are in place. What’s lacking is the political will and moral resolve,” he stated.
Beyond the rising danger, the humanitarian sector is grappling with severe funding shortages.
The United States, formerly the world’s top aid contributor, slashed 83 percent of its USAID programs under the Trump administration in March, officially closing the agency in July.
Meanwhile, several European nations have also cut their aid spending, with UN relief chief Tom Fletcher warned in March that the humanitarian system is at “a breaking point.”
He noted that many NGOs and UN bodies are being forced to reduce their operations due to budget shortfalls.
“The speed and scale of these cuts have shaken the entire sector. People will die because aid is disappearing. Programmes are shutting down, staff are being dismissed, and we’re left to make impossible choices about who we can help,” he said.
World Humanitarian Day is observed every year on August 19. It was established in 2008 to commemorate the 2003 bombing of a Baghdad hotel that killed 22 aid workers.
“This World Humanitarian Day, let’s turn remembrance into action. Let us stand united and declare: an attack on humanitarians is an attack on humanity,” Guterres stressed.
