Trends in Risks Faced By Humanitarian Workers
- Wars between states became much less common in the period following the end of the Cold War. Unfortunately, these wars have been largely replaced by an increased incidence of internal conflict and resulting violence and miscommunication, increasing the risk to civilians and humanitarian workers alike.
- Between 1985 and 1998 slightly less than 50% of all humanitarian worker deaths came from workers in UN programs. 25% of these deaths were UN peacekeepers.
- Between 2006-2008 Sudan (Darfur), Afghanistan and Somalia – accounted for more than 60% of violent incidents and aid worker victims.
- Most deaths of aid workers are due to deliberate violence.
- One third of deaths occur in the first three months of deployment, with 17% occurring within the first 30 days.
Source: Sheik, Gutierrez, et al., British Medical Journal 2000;321:166–8
- Since 2006, violence is once again on the increase and growth in the number of incidents is faster than the growth in the number of humanitarian aid workers.
- Kidnapping in particular is on the rise, with a 350% increase between 2006 and 2008.
Read more about this topic: Attacks On Humanitarian Workers
Famous quotes containing the words trends in, trends, risks, faced, humanitarian and/or workers:
“Thanks to recent trends in the theory of knowledge, history is now better aware of its own worth and unassailability than it formerly was. It is precisely in its inexact character, in the fact that it can never be normative and does not have to be, that its security lies.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“Power-worship blurs political judgement because it leads, almost unavoidably, to the belief that present trends will continue. Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“If the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop their capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the world and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. In contrast, a society which neglects its children, however well it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)
“It is not only a question of who is responsible for very young children. There is no longer anyone home to care for adolescents and the elderly. There is no one around to take in the car for repair or to let the plumber in. Working families are faced with daily dilemmas: Who will take care of a sick child? Who will go to the big soccer game? Who will attend the teacher conference?”
—Fran Sussner Rodgers (20th century)
“We have to ask ourselves whether medicine is to remain a humanitarian and respected profession or a new but depersonalized science in the service of prolonging life rather than diminishing human suffering.”
—Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (b. 1926)
“In former times and in less complex societies, children could find their way into the adult world by watching workers and perhaps giving them a hand; by lingering at the general store long enough to chat with, and overhear conversations of, adults...; by sharing and participating in the tasks of family and community that were necessary to survival. They were in, and of, the adult world while yet sensing themselves apart as children.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)