Around the world, local humanitarians are serving their communities through conflict and crises. But as the risks to their safety grow each year, we need to stand with them.

Twenty years ago, a bomb targeting the United Nations headquarters in Iraq killed 22 UN staff members. That day is commemorated annually as World Humanitarian Day, paying tribute to humanitarian workers, including those who lost their lives in the course of duty. Yet, since 2003, the risks to humanitarian workers have increased significantly.

Humanitarian workers are managing the threats of becoming targets of armed conflict and violence, overlapping natural hazards and climate change, and inequity in funding, while keeping their families and communities safe.

Some of this century’s deadliest conflicts have turned aid workers into collateral damage—and targets. The Aid Worker Security Database tracks incidents and impacts of attacks on aid workers, and the numbers have increased almost steadily each year. Since the start of 2023, 115 humanitarian workers were killed in the line of duty. Many more were wounded or kidnapped. In 2022 (and in most years), 98% of aid worker casualties were local staff—of either international or national organizations. However, international media headlines focus almost exclusively on the 2% of international workers affected.

While attacks on international NGO staff have recently decreased, attacks on their local implementing partners are on the rise. The loss of humanitarian workers seems to make international headlines only when international staff are involved. Media attention is particularly active when international staff are evacuating a crisis situation, and it plummets once they’ve left. That leaves local organizations, staff, and victims of war without the support that continued global attention would provide.

The 2023 Aid Worker Security Report lists Haiti and Ukraine among the top 10 countries with the highest number of incidents against humanitarian workers. The 2022 report noted, “[t]he unpredictable and potentially devastating consequences of airstrikes in particular seem to be a risk threshold that most international organisations are unwilling to cross. As a result, most remain at a distance from the front lines, paradoxically relying on less equipped local partners (and unsupported volunteer groups) to provide aid where the fighting is most intense.”

Read the full article about world humanitarian day by Sarah Rahman at GlobalGiving.