UN says 2024 'deadliest year on record' for humanitarian aid workers with 281 deaths globally so far

The UN humanitarian office on Friday said 2024 has already become humanitarian aid workers' "deadliest year on record," with the death of 281 aid workers globally so far.

"We have passed by one person last year's record already, and we're not even out of 2024," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a UN briefing in Geneva.

Lamenting the "grim milestone," Learke said that among those humanitarians who were killed, 13 were international staff, and 268 were national staff.

The over year-long war in Gaza is driving up the numbers, he said, as more than 320 humanitarian personnel have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023, with the war ongoing. Many were killed in the line of duty while providing humanitarian assistance, and most were staff members of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA, according to OCHA.

Learke cited Tom Fletcher, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, saying: "States and parties to conflict must protect humanitarians, uphold international law, prosecute those responsible, and call time on this era of impunity."

The spokesperson added that “we don't see a lot of prosecution of these incidents, and we should see that," describing this as "unacceptable."

2023 also saw record fatalities compared to previous years, with 280 aid workers killed across 33 countries, according to OCHA. However, the humanitarian office noted that threats to aid workers extend beyond Gaza, "with high levels of violence, kidnappings, injuries, harassment, and arbitrary detention reported in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen,” among other humanitarian hotspots.