Humanitarian workers are not targets – they are lifelines

By Andrew Colvin, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Red Cross

The statistics are sobering. Since 2024, 672 aid workers have been killed* – last year marked the highest toll ever recorded, and tragically, this year is already shaping up to be worse.

As Chief Executive Officer of Australian Red Cross, I feel the weight of these numbers every day. Our people are not anonymous statistics. They are nurses, doctors, logisticians and emergency responders. They are people who go where few others will – into conflict zones, disaster areas and communities in crisis – because lives depend on it.

For years, the greatest risk to aid workers came from road fatalities. Today, it is drones, missiles, and other weapons. Only two weeks ago two aid workers were killed and eight more injured in Ukraine when a missile struck while they were on a de-mining mission.

This is why today’s launch of a Declaration on the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel at the United Nations Head Quarters in New York is so important. Announced by Foreign Minister Penny Wong alongside other leaders and humanitarian organisations including Red Cross, it represents a vital moment of collective resolve, at a time when the dangers facing humanitarian workers have never been greater.

The Declaration matters because we have a choice: to allow the death of humanitarian workers to become normalised, or to insist, together, that attacks that threaten the safety and security of humanitarian personnel are unacceptable, unlawful, and must stop.

Among the 672 humanitarian workers that have lost their lives are Red Cross and Red Crescent staff and volunteers. Killed while delivering assistance or attacked in their homes. Every single killing is an outrage. Each is an assault not just on a life, but on our shared humanity.

These deaths are not tragic inevitabilities. They are violations of international law, which is clear: humanitarian personnel must be protected.

Each death undermines long established humanitarian principles that allow humanitarians to reach people in their moment of greatest need – humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence - without discrimination.

From Gaza to Sudan, Ukraine to Myanmar, humanitarian needs are surging. In every one of these contexts, humanitarian workers, the majority of whom are locals, show up despite the dangers - risking their lives to deliver food, medical care, clean water, shelter, and dignity. It is them who bear almost all the risk - 96% of casualties are local staff from the very communities they serve. If humanitarian personnel cannot operate safely, the consequences for millions of people caught in conflict will be devastating.

Australian Red Cross is proud of its long history providing international assistance including humanitarian personnel. Our people are highly skilled professionals in health, emergency response, water and sanitation, and shelter, working alongside local staff and volunteers to alleviate suffering in some of the most dangerous places on earth.

But this vital work is under threat.

Attacks on humanitarian workers do more than take lives. They shatter families, traumatise teams, and deprive communities of the support they urgently need. They also send a chilling message to those still willing to serve.

That is why the Declaration launched today is so important. It is more than words on paper. It is a collective commitment to uphold obligations under international law, to ensure accountability, and to press for tangible change. It calls on states and parties to conflict to respect the Geneva Conventions and to protect those who serve on the frontlines of humanity.

Australia has played a crucial role in bringing this Declaration to life. The Australian government’s leadership in championing it at the UN underscores our nation’s longstanding commitment to humanitarian principles, rules-based order and the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel. This is not just diplomacy, it is an affirmation of who we are as Australians: a people who believe in fairness, decency, and standing up for those who risk everything to save lives.

The Declaration is only the beginning. It will only matter if it is acted on - by governments, by states and parties to conflict, and by all of us who defend principled humanitarian action. Governments must hold perpetrators accountable. Parties to conflict must respect international humanitarian law.  

Australian Red Cross will play our part in bringing the Declaration to life. We will ramp up our training of government officials, and the Australian community, in international humanitarian law, strengthen our humanitarian diplomacy with decision-makers, and work with partners across the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement to uphold law.  

We honour the memory of those we have lost. We grieve with their families and colleagues. And we call on every government, armed actor, humanitarian organisations and citizen to join us: protect humanitarian personnel and the communities they serve.

Humanitarian workers are not targets. They are lifelines. Together, we can ensure they are protected.

* Current statistics by Aid Worker Security Database.