Humanitarian

UN Pays tribute to aid workers

Article published on the 2009-08-19 Latest update 2009-08-19 13:28 TU

Palestinians collect UN Aid packages, 7 October 2004
(Photo: Reuters)

The Uinted Nations paid tribute today to all humanitarian workers who risk their lives trying to help populations in global hotspots. This event comes at the end of a decade marked by a change of attitude towards aid workers who are now often treated as politicised bodies instead of impartial ones. 

Only yesterday, two Afghan civilian workers were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a NATO convoy to Kabul.

Last year 260 humanitarian workers from various agencies and charities were victims of kidnappings and attacks. According to the UN, 122 were killed.That's nearly four times more than ten years ago and a stark reminder of how difficult it has become for aid worker to help populations.

"This world humanitarian day is not just for UN staff, it’s also for our partners the NGO’s, for all the humanitarian community," said Elisabeth Pierce spokesperson for the UN's humanitarian aid branch, OCHA.

"Its true that we are more and more targeted because maybe some people think we’re politicised and that’s why the delivery of assistance is seen as an issue with the political agenda," Pierce told RFI. "We are neutral and impartial and we have no political agenda, we have no military agenda and it’s the responsibility of the government ... to protect their population…and the aid workers”

On the fact that more aid workers get killed than peace keepers, she says that this misses the point “It means only that everybody is targeted now whether you are an aid worker or a peacekeeper… and that’s why we should not have this line blurred between the military and the humanitarian community.”

“If we work with the military for some logistic reasons, it should be done under some strict guidelines and we must continue to build trust with local communities by demonstrating that humanitarism is entirely separate from political or military agendas.”