Humanitarian workers have increasingly come to be seen as targets in conflicts, with respect for aid workers disappearing. Recent trends show that targeted attacks on humanitarian personnel are on the rise, killing and injuring humanitarian aid workers every year. In 2009, 102 humanitarian workers lost their lives, as compared to 30 people only ten years ago.

Nonetheless, ICMC staff, partners and colleagues in countries around the world continue working to ensure that refugees, internally displaced persons< and migrants in need of support and assistance receive it—regardless of their faith, race, ethnicity, social standing or nationality<.

With numerous attacks on humanitarian organizations over the past year, ICMC Director of Operations, Walter Brill recalls that, “each time tragedy strikes, we are painfully reminded of the fact that our staff is often quite literally putting their lives at risk for the benefit of the people they serve. Our staff is on the front lines, and their unwavering dedication deserves to be applauded.”

ICMC Deployees working in UNHCR offices throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East face particularly strenuous security conditions, as do ICMC staff in Pakistan, who are currently operating under extraordinarily strenuous circumstances to respond to the urgent needs of flood victims in the Charsaada District, including large number of Afghan refugees and conflict-affected IDPs.

“By definition,” said John Holmes, Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, “the people who are trying to tackle humanitarian need are working in places which are often remote, usually difficult, and very often dangerous, because that is where conflicts are, and that is where the natural disasters happen.”

As part of the 2010 World Humanitarian Day campaign, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has emphasized that humanitarian aid workers should be “respected and helped, not targeted”, and that humanitarian aid workers must have full access to the many hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries in need of quality assistance.

The UN and other humanitarian organizations began honoring the 19 August anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the United Nations office in Iraq as ‘World Humanitarian Day’ in order to recognize the contribution and sacrifices made by humanitarian workers worldwide.

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See also: www.worldhumanitarianday.info<

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Alanna RYAN
ICMC Headquarters
Communications Officer
T: +41 22 919 10 20
E: ryan@icmc.net<