Marking World Humanitarian Day, UNSC debates how to protect aid workers

Marking World Humanitarian Day, the Security Council on Tuesday honored the "heroic" aid workers who assist millions of civilians affected by armed conflicts worldwide and examined way to protect them. The Day was designated by the General Assembly to coincide with the anniversary of the August 19, 2003 bombing of the UN compound in Baghdad, in which 22 people were killed, including the top UN Envoy for Iraq Sergio de Vieira de Mello.
Addressing the Council, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said aid workers representing the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) dedicate their lives to assisting millions of civilians.
"Yet, all too frequently, their safety is compromised in the most despicable of ways: by threats, by attacks, and by the use of illegal methods of warfare that endanger lives or damage the infrastructure needed for the delivery of assistance," he said.
Eliasson said the brutal acts by parties to the conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, South Sudan, and Somalia, are "nothing less than a deficit of humanity. Regrettably, this trend is getting worse, rather than better." He indicated that last year, more humanitarian workers were kidnapped, seriously injured or killed than ever before: 155 were reportedly killed; 171 were wounded and 134 kidnapped, representing a 66 percent increase in relation to 2012. "Our shared responsibility is to do everything we can to provide humanitarians with the safety and the space they need to do their life-saving work," he urged.
He appealed to political and military actors to respect the need for aid workers to carry out their work in an impartial, neutral and independent manner, adding that misusing humanitarian action for other ends is "dangerous." He said the Council has a "clear role to play," suggesting that the Council routinely calls on the parties to a conflict to uphold their legal obligations, define the lines between political, military and humanitarian mandates, impose sanctions against violators and hold them accountable.
In a statement marking the Day, UN General Assembly John Ashe stressed that every day, thousands of humanitarian aid workers continue to put their lives at risk in order to support people in need.
"World Humanitarian Day is not only an opportunity for our international community to celebrate the spirit of humanitarian work," he said, "but also to underscore the need to do more, as growing humanitarian crises continue to threaten millions of the most vulnerable communities where lives have been torn apart by war and other natural disasters." Ashe looks forward to implement a new sustainable development agenda, eradicating poverty while maintaining peaceful societies based on an inclusive, "people-centred approach will be essential components" in order to achieve success and build a just and prosperous future for all the world's citizens, he concluded.
Addressing the Council via video link from Geneva, ICRC President Peter Maurer said because of the resurgence of religious fundamentalism and the spreading of terror, the number of organisations able or willing to work in conflict environments has lately shrunk dramatically.
He said protecting the lives of humanitarian workers is not the responsibility or any specific country. "It is the responsibility of all nations and communities, stemming from a truly universal value. And it deserves the full attention that it is receiving in this Council today." Masood Karokhail, the Director of the Liaison Office, an NGO that works to promote good governance in Afghanistan, also told the Council that Afghan humanitarian workers suffer heavy casualties in part because international organisations are using local staff to reduce their own security risk.
He said 85 percent of UN staff involved in security incidents are Afghans, explaining that this "signals that there are different values for local humanitarian workers in Afghanistan." "As security measures applied to protect international staff are tightened and their mobility is restricted, the risk to national staff is increased. Local staff takes on more responsibility for accessing dangerous areas, while international staff remains in secure compounds," he complained. He said the fact that offices of many aid organizations, including the UN, increasingly resemble military bunkers with armed guards and usually Afghan Police used for field travel, "adversely impacts on the security of local staff and organisations working for them." "While the value of life is hard to measure," he said, "it is difficult to be told by an international funder that possible death of our staff is not budgeted for The implicit message - that the lives of Afghan staff are not only worth less, but also expendable - is difficult to stomach."