World Humanitarian Day

Aid workers often risk their lives daily, helping the world’s neediest people and many are killed on the frontlines of conflicts - today their work is being honoured with the first World Humanitarian Day. The UN has set up the celebration to spotlight aid workers, and boost support for their role. It says aid workers are working in increasingly dangerous environments and are frequently the targets of attack. Some 122 international aid workers were killed, last year a higher death toll than that for UN peacekeeping troops.

Today’s inaugural celebration day coincides with the sixth anniversary of the truck bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people. "In the past 10 years, 700 aid workers lost their lives in attacks, kidnappings and robberies. This day pays homage to them," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters. "Aid workers are being targeted more and more in attacks, it is a real problem. As a result, aid operations are often interrupted, depriving vulnerable people of supplies," she said.

Last year, 260 aid workers were victims of violent attacks either killed, kidnapped or seriously injured, according to figures from the Overseas Development Institute. That was a record for the 12 years since the British-based group began tracking such events, said Reuters news agency. "The 2008 fatality rate for international aid workers exceeds that of UN peacekeeping troops," the group said in a recent report. "Attacks against aid workers have increased sharply since 2006, with a particular upswing in kidnapping."

The number of aid workers being kidnapped has surged by 350 per cent in the past three years. And people from other countries are viewed as more popular targets because their capture creates more of a political statement, and kidnappers can get a higher ransom for foreigners than nationals. Sudan, especially the Darfur region, Afghanistan and Somalia are the three most violent countries for aid workers UN figures reveal. Already this year, aidworkers have been killed in Pakistan, kidnapped in Somalia and the Philippines, and fallen victim to armed robberies in Sudan, it said.

UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, today called for new efforts to help those in need. "World Humanitarian Day is meant to shine a spotlight on people in need to ensure they receive the assistance they deserve," he said. "Let us redouble our efforts toward this cause. Let us fulfil our humanitarian imperative."

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children