A few hours before World Humanitarian Day, on August 19, the multilateral organization confirmed that the number of deaths in these missions in 2022 reached 116, while the danger grows in the current context.

Provisional data from the independent research organization Humanitarian Outcomes points to South Sudan as the most dangerous country with 40 attacks and 22 deaths in 2023.

Neighboring Sudan ranks second, with 17 attacks and 19 deaths to date.

These numbers are even higher than those recorded during the height of the Darfur conflict between 2006 and 2009.

Other alarming figures are reported in the Central African Republic, Mali, Somalia and Ukraine.

In 2022, 444 humanitarian workers were attacked, while the previous year the figure was 460 attacks and 141 deaths.

The commemoration of World Humanitarian Day on August 19 marks the twentieth anniversary of a very symbolic date for the United Nations: the attack on its headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, which resulted in a score of fatalities and the destruction of the building that housed more than 300 members of the organization.

On August 19 of that year, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in the Iraqi capital claimed the lives of 22 humanitarian workers, among them the UN Secretary General’s special representative in that country, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Despite the fatal consequences, the UN maintained its work in the nation.

Five years later, the General Assembly adopted a resolution designating August 19 as World Humanitarian Day.

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