UN says a record number of aid workers were killed in 2023

A record number of aid workers were killed in conflicts around the world last year, and this year may be on course to be even deadlier, the United Nations has said.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 280 aid workers were killed in 33 countries in 2023 — more than double the previous year’s figure of 118.

It said that more than half of last year’s deaths were registered in the first three months of the Israel-Gaza war that started in October, mostly as a result of airstrikes.

The office said that this year “may be on track for an even deadlier outcome”, with 172 aid workers killed as of August 7.

More than 280, the majority of them with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, have been killed in Gaza so far, according to OCHA.

It said that “extreme levels of violence in Sudan and South Sudan” also have contributed to the death toll both this year and last.

The UN’s acting emergency relief coordinator, Joyce Msuya, said in a statement that “the normalisation of violence against aid workers and the lack of accountability are unacceptable, unconscionable and enormously harmful for aid operations everywhere”.

She demanded in a statement that “people in power act to end violations against civilians and the impunity with which these heinous attacks are committed”.