Red Cross marks record numbers of humanitarians killed in 2024


By AFP
December 4, 2024

IFRC staff hold pictures of their colleagues killed while performing humanitarian duties in 2024 - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Anna Moneymaker

Dozens of Red Cross staff and volunteers gathered Wednesday for a candlelight vigil for 31 of their colleagues killed in 2024, during the deadliest year on record for humanitarians.

More than 100 people crowded outside the headquarters of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva, most donning red vests and carrying candles.

Standing in the stinging cold in front of a banner emblazoned with the words “Protect Humanity”, some held up pictures of the 31 staff and volunteers killed this year while performing their humanitarian duties.

“We are shocked. We are appalled,” Nena Stoiljkovic, the IFRC’s Under Secretary-General for Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalisation, told the gathering.

“We are not a target,” added IFRC official Frank Mohrhauer.

Following a minute of silence, an IFRC staff member solemnly read out the names of those killed.

They were among a record number of aid workers who have perished around the world this year.

Already last month, the United Nations said the record number of 280 humanitarians killed in 2023 had been surpassed, and the number has kept climbing.

Israel’s devastating war in Gaza has especially been driving up the numbers, but aid workers were also subject to violence and killings in a range of countries including Sudan and Ukraine.

“2024 is now the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, especially for local staff and volunteers worldwide,” Stoiljkovic said.

“This grim milestone has not spared the IFRC network,” she said, pointing to more “heartbreaking news” just last week when another Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer was killed, and eight others injured in an attack.

“They were rescuing people in desperate need of humanitarian assistance,” she said.

Stoiljkovic told AFP that the event, which came before International Volunteers’ Day on Thursday, provided “a moment to reflect” on the towering losses with “sadness and compassion”.