Humanitarians: Staying Strong in the Face of Constant Threat

When you decide to dedicate your life to humanitarian work in the field, remember this: Not everyone wants you to succeed. As an affiliate of the United Nations or a non-governmental organization, many people won't think of your work as simply providing security, distributing food or teaching children. Though most of the communities served are extraordinarily grateful for the humanitarian assistance they receive, there are plenty of individuals and groups who are not. Accordingly, humanitarians face the fear of kidnappings, hijackings and attacks every day.

Take the peacekeepers who were abducted by gunmen in Darfur just a few days ago. Deployed to assess fighting between rebel and government forces, 40 peacekeepers were kidnapped and two still remain missing. Reports suggest that since the joint UN/African Union patrol began work in Darfur in 2008, 22 peacekeepers have been killed.

This is the reality for humanitarian workers around the world -- in trying to conduct their daily activities to better the lives of the poorest people on earth, they are constantly confronted with the threat of attack.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has said that the relentless attacks on truck convoys in Darfur are "pushing to the brink the agency's ability to feed more than 3 million people each month." By the end of June 2008, two WFP truck drivers had been killed and 41 were missing. A whopping 83 trucks had been hijacked, with 55 still unaccounted for. And the problem isn't isolated in Darfur, of course. WFP has also been affected by hijackings of vessels on the seas by Somali pirates. And we can't forget the UN staff killed in Afghanistan in August 2009 by a suicide bomb, the infamous Baghdad attack of 2003 that killed 22 UN staff members, or the countless other acts of violence committed against humanitarian workers on a regular basis.

To mark the first World Humanitarian Day on August 19, 2009, the United Nations paid tribute to aid workers on the frontlines around the globe. That day, the UN reported that in 2008, 260 humanitarian workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks -- the highest toll on record. Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Catherine Bragg, was right on when she stated that "Too often, UN and NGO flags and emblems are no longer protections, but provocations."

When it comes down to it, humanitarian workers are the gateway to basic human rights for millions of people around the globe. They risk their lives every day to better the lives of others, and remain steadfast in the face of hostility. These people are the unsung heros of the world, and we should pay tribute to them on a national and international level by bringing attention to the important work they do.

Photo Credit: Radio Nederland Wereldomroep