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STORY: UN / PROTECTION OF HUMANITARIAN WORKERS
TRT: 03:51
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 02 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters
02 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“Humanitarian workers are being killed in unprecedented numbers. According to available data, 2024 was the worst year on record, with 377 aid workers killed across 20 countries. This was almost 100 more fatalities than in 2023, which already saw a 137 percent increase from 2022.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“And just three days ago, on 30 March in Rafah, teams from OCHA and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society recovered from a mass grave the bodies of fifteen emergency and aid workers—from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, Civil Defense, and the United Nations—killed several days earlier by Israeli forces while trying to save lives. Their clearly marked vehicles were found destroyed and crushed.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“These deaths bring the number of aid workers killed in the Strip since 7 October 2023 to more than 408. Gaza is the most dangerous place for humanitarians ever.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“There is no shortage of robust international legal frameworks to protect humanitarian and UN workers. Human rights law and standards, Conventions relating to the UN’s activities and personnel, and international humanitarian law together provide clear obligations to safeguard humanitarian personnel, assets, and operations. What is lacking is the political will to comply.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“We have become numb to this violence. Being shot at is not – I repeat, not – part of our job.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“Humanitarians also face the criminalization of their work. More and more are detained, interrogated, and accused of supporting terrorism simply for delivering aid to people in need.”
15. Wide shot, Security Council
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Gilles Michaud, Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security, United Nations:
“These attacks are designed to prevent the UN from helping the most vulnerable, and to prevent them from bearing witness. Impunity for attacks on humanitarian personnel has become the new normal. A pervasive normal. An accepted normal. One perpetuated not only by non-state actors, but also by governments and their proxies.”
17. Wide shot, Security Council
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Gilles Michaud, Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security, United Nations:
“Let's be clear: those who target humanitarian and United Nations personnel may have many motives. But above all, they do it because they can get away with it. This must end.”
19. Wide shot, Security Council
A UN top official said, “We have become numb” to violence against humanitarian works. “Being shot at is not – I repeat, not – part of our job,” she added.
Addressing the Security Council today (2 Apr Mar) Joyce Msuya, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator reported, “Humanitarian workers are being killed in unprecedented numbers. According to available data, 2024 was the worst year on record, with 377 aid workers killed across 20 countries. This was almost 100 more fatalities than in 2023, which already saw a 137 percent increase from 2022.”
She continued, “And just three days ago, on 30 March in Rafah, teams from OCHA and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society recovered from a mass grave the bodies of fifteen emergency and aid workers—from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, Civil Defense, and the United Nations—killed several days earlier by Israeli forces while trying to save lives. Their clearly marked vehicles were found destroyed and crushed.”
She stressed, “These deaths bring the number of aid workers killed in the Strip since 7 October 2023 to more than 408. Gaza is the most dangerous place for humanitarians ever.”
She stated, “There is no shortage of robust international legal frameworks to protect humanitarian and UN workers. Human rights law and standards, Conventions relating to the UN’s activities and personnel, and international humanitarian law together provide clear obligations to safeguard humanitarian personnel, assets, and operations. What is lacking is the political will to comply.”
She also said, “Humanitarians also face the criminalization of their work. More and more are detained, interrogated, and accused of supporting terrorism simply for delivering aid to people in need.”
Gilles Michaud, Un Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security, said, “These attacks are designed to prevent the UN from helping the most vulnerable, and to prevent them from bearing witness. Impunity for attacks on humanitarian personnel has become the new normal. A pervasive normal. An accepted normal. One perpetuated not only by non-state actors, but also by governments and their proxies.”
He also said, “Let's be clear: those who target humanitarian and United Nations personnel may have many motives. But above all, they do it because they can get away with it. This must end.”
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