A shocking new record of 383 aid workers killed in 2024 must be a wake-up call to protect all civilians in conflict and crisis and call time on impunity, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, on World Humanitarian Day.
Most of the aid workers killed were national staff serving their communities, and they were attacked in the line of duty or in their homes. An additional 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 kidnapped and 45 detained in the same year.
“Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,” said Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. “Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy. As the humanitarian community, we demand – again – that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account.”
The 31 per cent surge in aid worker deaths compared to 2023 was driven by the relentless conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives. Violence against aid workers increased in 21 countries in 2024 compared to the previous year, with State actors the most common perpetrators.
The first eight months of 2025 show no sign of a reversal of the disturbing trend: 265 aid workers have been killed as of 14 August, according to provisional data from the Aid Worker Security Database¹.
Attacks on humanitarian workers, assets and operations violate international humanitarian law and undermine the lifelines that sustain millions of people trapped in war and disaster zones.
The United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 2730 in May 2024, which reaffirmed the obligation on parties to conflict and Member States to protect humanitarian personnel and called for independent investigations into violations. But the lack of accountability remains pervasive.
On this World Humanitarian Day, aid workers and their supporters commemorate those killed and stand in solidarity with those serving people in need, demanding urgent protection for civilians and aid operations.
The global #ActForHumanity campaign is relaunched with added urgency, calling on the public to stand with humanitarians, demand protection and support the lifelines they provide.
Fletcher added: “Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end.”