Amman, August 19 (Petra) President of the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Kate Forbes, and
President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),
Mirjana Spoljarić, called for stronger measures to protect
humanitarian workers and volunteers and preserve the space needed for
them to carry out their work safely.

In a statement marking World Humanitarian Day, they said that
honouring the courage of humanitarian workers is not enough at a time
when aid workers are being killed in record numbers.

They noted that the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
has lost 12 workers since the beginning of this year in
violence-related incidents while they were performing their duties,
compared with 24 workers killed last year.

They called for preventing attacks on aid workers from becoming
normalised, emphasising that the solution is not to demand greater
courage from humanitarian personnel but to ensure they can perform
their duties safely.

They warned that polarisation, declining trust and the spread of
misinformation, coupled with rhetoric targeting humanitarian workers
or questioning the neutrality of aid, are increasing the risks faced
by humanitarian personnel and could turn online campaigns into
real-world threats and attacks.

The two officials said that protecting humanitarian workers requires
governments and parties to armed conflicts to uphold their
obligations under international humanitarian law.

They added that 122 countries have signed the Declaration on the
Protection of Humanitarian Personnel.

They added that protecting humanitarian workers is not a favour
granted to humanitarian organisations, but a duty.

//Petra// AK