Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 13th August. UN office of the humanitarian and coordination agency on Friday has warned that 140 aid workers are killed in 2021 and there is a shortage of $34 billion, funding for aid operations is the biggest it’s ever been.
The news came at a time when global needs are at an all-time high, with a record 303 million people in crisis worldwide.
OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said “UN appeals aim to reach 204 million of the most vulnerable. Never before have humanitarians been called to respond to this level of need and they are doing so in ever more dangerous environments”.
OCHA said that the cost of UN coordinated relief projects this year are close to $50 billion dollars.
It said that financing pledges have reached their highest level ever– totaling more than $15 billion – needs are outpacing funds.
He pointed out that “This is the largest gap we’ve ever had. However, it is also the largest amount of donor funding that has ever been committed.”
“So, the problem is the following: that the needs in the world are rising much, much faster than the donor funding is coming in”.
According to data from the non-governmental organization Humanitarian Outcomes, with which the UN partners annually to highlight these statistics, over 140 aid workers were killed in the line of duty last year – the highest number of fatalities since 2013.
Mr. Laerke said that all but two of the aid workers who died were national staff, “highlighting the perils that national aid workers often face,”, who added that another 203 aid workers were injured and 117 kidnapped last year.
He explained that “the most violent countries for aid workers continue to be South Sudan, followed by Afghanistan and Syria.”
According to Humanitarian Outcomes, 168 aid workers have been attacked so far this year, leading to 44 fatalities.
Laerke said “Most of the over 140 fatalities in 2021 were killed by small weapons and shooting incidents, with the second highest cause of death being airstrikes and shelling, most of them in Syria,”.
World Humanitarian Day, commemorated annually on 19 August, Martin Griffiths, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs issued a statement paid tribute to “all humanitarian workers who often work in dangerous conditions to help others in need” while commemorating “those who have lost their lives in the line of duty”.
OCHA has launched a week-long campaign to honor humanitarian workers under the theme
“It takes a village,” which spotlights how aid workers come together in a collective effort to alleviate extreme need.
“Just like the saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ it takes a ‘village’ of humanitarians working with affected communities to bring help and hope to people caught up in crises,” he said.
Griffiths stated “This year’s World Humanitarian Day builds on this metaphor of collective endeavour and asks people everywhere to show appreciation for humanitarian work, whoever carries it out”.
OCHA noted that the public are invited to follow the #ItTakesAVillage hashtag on social media, to share, like and comment on the posting, to show solidarity with people who need aid and appreciation for those who work to deliver it.
General Assembly designated the annual event in 2008 to commemorate the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 aid workers.
The day highlight different aspects of humanitarian action and mobilize people globally to advocate for the broader humanitarian cause, OCHA added.
