The plight of aid workers being targets of insurgents and war torn areas has not reduced but has continued to soar on a bad note year on year.
A report released by IRINNEWS ahead of Aid Workers Day tomorrow states that South Sudan remains the most unsafe place for an aid worker, with many parts of Africa including Nigeria.
As of August 2017, six aid workers were killed in Nigeria according to data released by ‘Aid Worker Security’.
The report also said most of the victims were local aid workers, from the host communities and many were killed as a result of being perceived as enemies working for enemy groups or countries.
It highlighted areas ridden with insurgency, ethnic clashes and war as the places with the most casualties for aid workers.
As part of efforts to draw global attention to the plight of aid workers and seek better working conditions for them, IRIN launched a campaign with the Hash tag #NotATarget as the theme.
The aid workers security report 2017 states that “in 2016, 158 major attacks against aid operations occurred which resulted in the killing of 101 aid workers. 98 were wounded and 89 kidnapped. The number of attacks and victims increased only slightly from 2015, the report said.
“For the second consecutive year, South Sudan was the most
violent context for aid workers, reflecting the fracturing conflict
and an atmosphere of impunity for armed actors.”
The report however made a shocking revelation, as it said many of the killings of aid workers are perpetrated by government forces either in gunfights or bombings of terror zones.
“However, when measured by body count alone, states are
responsible for the highest number of aid worker fatalities. In 2015
and 2016, 54 aid workers were killed by state actors. This was mainly
the result of airstrikes by Russia and the US in Syria and Afghanistan
and an upsurge in state-sponsored violence in South Sudan.”
Also, many of the attacks ‘are perpetrated by ‘national-level’ non-state
armed groups (NSAGs) seeking control of the state.”
The report listed South Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, DR Congo, Somalia as the countries with the most cases of aid worker killings.
Full report here
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