Press Statement: World Humanitarian Day 2025
Today marks World Humanitarian Day, a moment to honor those who have dedicated their lives to helping people in crisis. This day feels especially poignant this year as the humanitarian sector grapples with increasing attacks on aid workers against the backdrop of escalating global crises and unprecedented funding cuts.
2024 was the deadliest year on record for aid workers. Sadly, this year is tracking to set a new grim milestone.
Humanitarian aid work has always come with an element of risk, but the increased politicization of aid and the erosion of respect for international norms and principles – including International Humanitarian Law (IHL) – has raised the stakes significantly.
Today, the killing of aid workers and civilians seeking aid along with the targeting of health infrastructure is too often justified as “collateral damage,” backed by vague claims of nearby combatants or disinformation. These narratives not only distort the truth but erode already fragile mechanisms for accountability.
In Gaza, the IDF has carried out strikes in densely populated areas, including designated deconflicted zones and health facilities, killing civilians and aid workers under the guise of targeting nearby militants. In July, an airstrike hit just outside one of our health clinics in Deir al Balah, killing 16 people, including 10 children – many of whom were our patients who were waiting for the clinic to open to access medical care.
In Ukraine, Russian drones have destroyed more than 200 ambulances since the start of the full-scale invasion. In the past two months, Russian drones have targeted Project HOPE-supported medical vehicles on two separate occasions, resulting in the death of a beloved physician earlier this month.
What needs to change is urgent and clear:
- Secure stronger protections and better systems to ensure the safety of all aid workers – particularly local aid workers whose deaths are often underreported.
- Hold governments and warring parties accountable for upholding IHL and ensure that perpetrators are sanctioned and held accountable if they knowingly breach such laws.
- Prohibit the provision of arms to perpetrators of attacks on humanitarian personnel, supporting prosecutions at the International Criminal Court for such attacks.
- End the militarization of aid and the use of armed contractors in aid distribution, ensuring that aid distribution is humane, impartial, neutral, and independent.
- Ensure adequate funding for organizations so that they can provide protection for their staff.
Above all, humanitarian workers are not – and must never be – targets. And aid organizations must be allowed to operate neutrally, safely, and without fear of violence.
This World Humanitarian Day, we honor aid workers around the world who continue to dedicate their lives to serving others, as we continue to demand that our leaders end these violations and the impunity that allows them. #ActForHumanity
