Attacks on humanitarian workers |
Humanitarian aid workers belonging to UN
organisations, PVOs / NGOs or the Red Cross /
Red Crescent have traditionally enjoyed both international legal protection, and de facto immunity from attack by belligerent parties. However, attacks on humanitarian workers have
occasionally occurred, and became more frequent in the 1990s and 2000s. This is attributed to a number of factors, including the increasing number of humanitarian workers
deployed, the increasingly unstable environments in which they work, and the erosion of the perception of neutrality and independence.
Legal basis for protection of humanitarian workers
The legal basis for protection of humanitarian workers in conflicts is contained in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the related Protocol of 1975. These treaties describe the category
of civilian non-combatant and outline the rights of obligations of
non-combatants during conflict. These rights include the right to be treated humanely; to have access to food, water, shelter,
medical treatment, and communications; to be free from violence to life and person, hostage taking, and humiliating or degrading
treatment; and the prohibition against collective punishment or imprisonment. Civilian non-combatants include local
citizens and nationals of countries that are not party to the conflict.
While the Geneva Conventions guarantee protection for humanitarian workers, they do not guarantee access of humanitarian
workers to affected areas: governments or occupying forces may, if they wish, ban a relief agency from working in their area.
Médecins Sans Frontières was created in 1971
with the express purpose of ignoring this restriction, by providing assistance to populations affected by the Biafran civil war despite the prohibitions of the government of Nigeria.
In addition, the Geneva Conventions do not require that parties to the conflict guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers.
The Conventions prohibit combatants from attacking non-combatants, and they require occupying forces to maintain general order.
However, the Conventions do not require that combating parties provide security escorts, for example, when other factions
threaten the safety of non-combatants operating in their area.
Trends in risks faced by humanitarian workers
- Wars between states became much less common in the period following the end of the Cold War. Unfortunately, these wars have been largely replaced by an increased incidence of internal conflict and
resulting anarchy, increasing the risk to civilians and humanitarian workers alike.
- Between 1985 and 1998 just under 50% of deaths were in workers from UN programmes. 25% were UN peacekeepers.
- Most deaths of aid workers are due to deliberate violence.
- One third of deaths occur in the first three months of deployment, with 17% occurring within the first 30 days.
Source: Sheik, Gutierrez, et al, British Medical Journal 2000;321:166–8
Countries with the highest number of aid workers killed (1997 -2003)
- Angola: 58 (mostly as a result of anti-aircraft attacks on two UN planes by UNITA in 1998 and 1999 and by landmines)
- Afghanistan: 36
- Iraq: 32
- Sudan: 29
- Democratic Republic of the
Congo: 18
- Rwanda: 17
- Somalia: 16
- Burundi: 11
- Palestinian Authority: 7
- Uganda: 7
- Serbia and Montenegro (Kosovo): 5
- Liberia: 5
List of recent attacks on humanitarian workers
1997
1998
1999
- South Sudan - January 4, 1999 - 4 ICRC staff killed by SPLA (abducted in February, executed in April).
- Southern, Somalia - January 27,
1999 - 1 Kenyan aid worker killed by gunmen.
- Lesotho - February 4, 1999 - Irish aid worker (Ken Hickley) robbed and murdered.
- Bundibugyo, Uganda - April 23, 1999 - Many aid workers flee area to avoid attacks by Allied Democratic Forces.
- Belgrade, Serbia - May 26, 1999 - 3 aid workers put on trial for
spying.
- Angola - June 15, 1999 - 2 aid workers killed when gunmen ambush and rob
them.
- Tajikistan - October 2 -
French aid worker killed.
- Northern Kosovo - November 15,
1999 - 24 people on board a WFP aid flight died when it
crashed.
2000
- Balad, Somalia - January 3, 2000 - 1
local CARE staff shot dead in an ambush.
- North of Mogadishu, Somalia -
January 4, 2000 - 1 CARE worker shot dead in an ambush.
- Sudan - January 9, 2000 - 2 CARE staff killed and 2 missing after an
ambush.
- Somalia - January 31, 2000 - Attacks on a convoy of aid vehicles leave 20 people dead.
- Ethiopia - February 9,
2000 - A medical orgnisation suspends operations in part of Ethiopia after the killing of a
staff member.
- Ambon, Indonesia - May 22, 2000 - Foreign aid workers pulled out of Ambon to
escape growing inter-communal violence.
- Sierra Leone - June 19,
2000 - 1 British aid worker (Alan Smith) freed after being held for 1 month by rebels.
- Baghdad, Iraq - June 28, 2000 - 2 FAO workers shot
and killed.
- South Sudan - August 6, 2000 - 8 aid workers killed in Sudan when vehicle was attacked near the border with Uganda.
- Atambua, Belu District, West Timor, Indonesia - September 6, 2000 - Five UNHCR staff members, Mr Samson Aregahegn (Supply Officer); Mr Carlos Caceres-Collazo (Protection Officer); and
Mr Pero Simundza (Telecommunications Operator) and two Indonesians were killed when their office was attacked by militia.
- Macenta, Guinea - September 17, 2000 - The death of one UNHCR staff member and the abduction of another.
- Southern border Guinea - December
7, 2000 - Hundreds of people are left dead as rebels destroy the UNHCR centre.
- Afghanistan - December
9, 2000 - 7 people working for UN mine clearance programme killed in ambush.
- Ache, Indonesia - December 10, 2000 - 3 aid workers killed.
- Burundi - December 30, 2000 -
A British voluntary worker is one of 20 people killed by gunmen.
2001
2002
2003
2004
- Kabul, Afghanistan - February 26, 2004 - Five Afghans working for
the Sanayee Development Foundation were killed when their vehicle was ambushed northeast of
Kabul.
- Mosul, Iraq - March 15, 2004 - Larry Elliott, Jean Dover Elliott, Karen Denise Watson, and
David McDonnall were killed in a drive-by shooting. They were US
missionaries for Southern Baptist International Mission Board.
- Kabul, Afghanistan - April 28, 2004 - Two Afghan aid workers and a soldier
were killed in an attack in the Panjwayi
district of southern Kandahar city.
- Badghis province, Afghanistan
- June 3, 2004 - Five staff working for Médecins_Sans_Frontières were killed on the road
between Khairkhana and Qala-I-Naw, resulting in the suspension of MSF's activities in Afghanistan. The names of the murdered
staff were: Hélène de Beir, Willem Kwint, Egil Tynaes, Fasil Ahmad and Besmillah.
See also
External links
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