We cannot accept a world where those who save lives are targeted by IFRC, OCHA, WVI, Save the Children, agencies 1:38pm 20th Aug, 2026   19 August 2026    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls on Member States to respect humanitarian law and protect humanitarian workers around the world:    "On World Humanitarian Day, we honour the dedicated workers who provide life-saving aid to millions in need. We also confront an appalling truth: Serving others has become more dangerous than ever. More than a thousand humanitarians have been killed in the last three years. Most were local staff supporting their own communities. Countless others narrowly survived being shot at, shelled, bombed, kidnapped, or raped.    Schools and hospitals are coming under fire. And new tools of war – including armed drones – are posing fresh risks. At the same time, disinformation is eroding trust. Humanitarian funding is being cut. And humanitarian access is being restricted. We see aid convoys blocked. Aid workers threatened, arrested, and detained. And people in desperate need left without support.    Attacks on humanitarian workers are illegal. And the consequences are devastating. For families struggling to survive. Children waiting for food. Patients seeking urgent care. And so many more. The world has made commitments. Now it must act: To respect the rules of war; Ensure safe access; Hold perpetrators accountable; And provide sufficient resources. Humanitarian workers stand up for people in need. We must stand up for them. We must act for humanity – now".    Aug. 2026    Why the world cannot normalize the killing of those who help. (IFRC)    A joint message from Kate Forbes, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross on World Humanitarian Day:    On World Humanitarian Day, we rightly celebrate the courage of humanitarian workers and volunteers. But honouring their bravery and commitment while aid workers are being killed in record numbers is not enough.    We must not allow the targeting of aid workers to become normalized. Today there is a real risk that the world comes to accept that humanitarian personnel will be attacked, injured or killed as “part of the job” or an inevitable feature of today’s crises.    The answer cannot be to ask our colleagues to be braver. The answer must be to make it possible for them to do their jobs safely.    Every day, somewhere in the world, a humanitarian worker sets out knowing they may not return home. They are medics, drivers, engineers and volunteers. Their courage is extraordinary. But courage does not stop bullets or guarantee safe passage.    The risks are also becoming harder to navigate. In an increasingly polarized environment, facts are contested, trust is fragile and falsehoods spread quickly. Political leaders, public figures, media and online platforms all shape the environment in which humanitarian action takes place.    Rhetoric that dehumanizes humanitarian workers, casts suspicion on impartial assistance or erodes trust in the emblems can make already dangerous work even more dangerous.    Harmful information campaigns deliberately targeted at aid workers often do not remain online. They can have real-world consequences in terms of the danger and hostility our teams face while carrying out their work.    The safety of our colleagues depends on governments and parties to armed conflicts upholding their obligations under international humanitarian law.    Expressions of support for humanitarian workers matter, but words must be matched by decisions from those with power and influence to uphold the rules, defend the space for humanitarian action and make choices that allow aid workers to reach people and return home.    Protecting humanitarian personnel is not a favour to our organizations. It is an obligation and, more importantly, a lifeline for every person who will one day depend on an ambulance that arrives, a volunteer who stays or an aid worker who is able to reach them because the world has preserved the space to do so safely.    Aug. 2026    World Humanitarian Day: National staff bear brunt of record violence against humanitarian workers - Save the Children International:    Nearly all attacks on humanitarian workers over the past five years –96% – were on national staff as parties to conflict flouted laws designed to protect aid workers and violence reached unprecedented levels, Save the Children said on World Humanitarian Day.    New analysis by Save the Children of data from the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD), found that between 1 August 2021 and the end of July 2026, about 3,496 national aid workers were victims of attacks, including deaths, detentions, kidnappings and attacks that result in serious injury, compared with 134 international staff which tend to bring more attention.    The findings come after the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers. In 2025, more than 1,180 aid workers globally were victims of major attacks, driven largely by the war in the occupied Palestinian territories, where 187 humanitarian workers were killed, 80 injured, 23 detained and two kidnapped.    Assessing the number of attacks on humanitarian workers so far in 2026, national staff account for greater share of victims, accounting for 98% of all attacks, their highest proportion since records began in 1997.    The majority of attacks this year have taken place in Lebanon, South Sudan and Sudan, making them among the most dangerous places to be an aid worker today.    The risks for aid workers are rising despite international law prohibiting attacks on humanitarian personnel, however, attacks on national staff too often go unreported and unnoticed.    Gabriella Waaijman, Save the Children’s Chief Operating Officer, said:    “National staff bear the brunt of attacks year on year. However, when a national aid worker gets killed, detained, injured or kidnapped, it rarely makes headlines. These are people brave enough to respond to the crises unfolding around them and are often directly affected by the crises themselves. Sometimes, they're among the displaced people they're trying to support, facing the same hunger and affected by the same bombs and bullets tearing through their communities.    “Every humanitarian worker killed, injured or detained is more than a number. They are a parent, sibling, friend, neighbour, or colleague. Their loss is felt not only by their loved ones, but by the communities and children they serve. When aid workers cannot safely reach communities, children die. They lose access to food, healthcare, education, protection and other services that they rely on for survival.    “The promise of respect and protection for aid workers under international humanitarian law is broken. We cannot accept a world where those who save lives are targeted for it. The laws are clear. Aid workers should never be a target.”    This World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, Save the Children is demanding urgent action, not simply expressions of concern:    1. International humanitarian law must be applied with children in mind at every phase of conflict, accounting for their unique vulnerabilities. This will reduce the irreparable harm to children and strengthen protection for all civilians.    2. Parties to conflict must respect international humanitarian law, facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access, and protect humanitarian personnel and civilian infrastructure. As technology advances, from drones to artificial intelligence, so must our protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers.    3. States must use the diplomatic and legal tools and leverage they have to protect aid workers, prevent attacks, safeguard access, and ensure those responsible for any violations are held to account. Impunity only fuels further attacks.    Aug. 2026    Attacks on humanitarian workers surge under new armed conflict tactics, leaving children without life‑saving aid - World Vision International:    A child should not have to know the sound of a military drone. Yet for millions of children living through conflict, the buzz overhead has become as familiar as a school bell.    Drones can now be heard above hospitals in Sudan, over war-torn villages in Ukraine, along roads where aid convoys once moved, and near shelters, where children wait for food, medicine, clean water, and safety.    Their presence signals danger, causing panic and keeping families indoors. Drone threats close roads, empty clinics and prevent aid workers from reaching those who need assistance most.    This World Humanitarian Day, World Vision warns that humanitarian access, protection of civilians, and aid worker safety are being reshaped by the changing nature of conflict, including the growing use of drones and other emerging technologies, leaving children cut off from the help they need most.    In East Darfur, Sudan, a drone attack on Al-Daein Teaching Hospital reportedly killed at least 64 people, including 13 children and healthcare workers, and left 90 others severely injured. The hospital was rendered completely non-functional, cutting off life-saving healthcare services. Drone attacks are being reported across a widening area of Sudan, including UN-reported strikes in El Obeid that hit a power and fuel station, forcing medical facilities to close.    In Ukraine, families describe children hiding in basements, listening to drones above their villages. Some have been separated from their parents for months while seeking safety abroad.    "Technology may be changing how conflicts are fought but it cannot change our responsibility to protect human life and dignity. Every drone strike that closes a clinic, destroys a road or forces aid workers to turn back is also an attack on a child’s chance to survive. Humanitarian workers are not targets. Hospitals are not targets. Children are not collateral damage,” said Isabel Gomes, Global Lead, Disaster Management, World Vision International.    More than 1,000 humanitarian workers have been killed in the past three years, with 350 killed in 2025 alone, the second-highest number ever recorded. At the same time, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack recorded at least 8,566 attacks on education in 2024 and 2025, more than a 40 per cent increase compared with 2022–2023, while the World Health Organization has verified nearly 1,900 attacks on healthcare facilities, personnel and services in 2026.    When aid workers are attacked or blocked from reaching people in need, children are left waiting for food, medicine and protection that may never come. Too often, those risking their lives to help are local people and members of the very communities caught in the conflict.    Last year, World Vision welcomed the "Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel", a commitment to uphold international law and take practical steps to protect humanitarian personnel. This was an important step towards safeguarding aid workers, defending humanitarian access, and strengthening accountability when those protections are violated.    This World Humanitarian Day, World Vision calls on governments and parties to conflict to:    Protect humanitarian workers, civilians, and civilian infrastructure in line with international humanitarian law. Guarantee safe, sustained, and unimpeded humanitarian access for children and families affected by conflict.    Ensure independent investigations, accountability, and consequences for attacks on humanitarian workers, healthcare facilities, and other civilian infrastructure. Address the humanitarian consequences of drones and other emerging military technologies, including their impact on humanitarian access, civilian protection, and children’s safety.    Protecting humanitarian workers is inseparable from protecting children. Every attack that prevents aid workers from reaching a community exposes children to hunger, disease, violence, exploitation, and despair.    “When humanitarian workers are attacked or prevented from reaching communities, children lose the people bringing food, medicine, clean water and protection. Governments must treat every such attack not simply as another statistic, but as a test of whether international law will be upheld,” said Gomes.    This World Humanitarian Day, the global #ActForHumanity campaign reminds us that every humanitarian worker killed is more than a number. It forces us to ask uncomfortable questions: How many more aid workers must die, how many more hospitals stop functioning, before expressions of concern are matched by accountability? Protection requires action, accountability, and consequences when international law is violated.    World Vision honours humanitarian workers who have lost their lives and those who continue to serve in the world’s most dangerous places. Remembrance must now be matched by protection, access, and accountability.    Aug. 2026    Briefing on World Humanitarian Day by Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:    1,000 aid workers killed, injured or kidnapped, and States dominating that violence against humanitarians. And behind it all, this sense we feel of impunity, of a lack of accountability for those who pulled the trigger, those who gave the order, those who supplied the weapon, those who created the environment in which it could be used in that way. I’ve been in the job now for almost two years, and I struggle to think of meaningful investigations into this litany of killing that we’ve seen.    This is a stain. It is the normalization of violence against our community, and we will not accept it. We do not accept it. We will not allow this violence, this killing of humanitarians, to be normalized.    I’m in Ukraine at the moment for World Humanitarian Day. I’ve been in Kherson for the last two days, which is a real epicentre at the moment – it’s saturated by use of drones against civilian areas. It’s become one of the places, I’m afraid, where you get to really understand this dystopian reality that lies ahead, potentially, for many of us, but is an existence day to day for people here and in so many of the crisis areas in which we work, from Somalia to Sudan to Gaza to Lebanon. A chilling alliance between technological ingenuity and modern warfare, and the victims are civilians and they are humanitarians.    I was really struck – I drove the road four times, actually, that Ukrainians call the "Road of Death," between Mykolaiv and Kherson, and until you see it and experience it, it’s hard to describe driving for miles and miles, kilometres, kilometres along these roads covered in netting to try and keep out as many of the drones as possible. That sense when you’re walking around of the constant threat, the alarms going on everyone’s phone incessantly, and the sense of collective anxiety that these drones create.    I’ve not been anywhere – and you know, I spend my time in pretty tough neighbourhoods – I’ve not been anywhere where drones are so much part of the conversation. Everyone – from the kids I met in shelters, civilians, humanitarians, my colleagues – can tell the difference between the sound of a first-person-view drone and a fibre-optic drone and the medium-range drones or the loitering munitions, which are such a threat to our work. And so these weapons have become part of life and part of the language of people here, and that’s pretty chilling.    I met, of course, civilians who've lost limbs to these first-person-view drones that are everywhere. And of course, the terrifying thing here is that the operator of that drone knows exactly what they’re doing. If they fly around the person selling fruit and vegetables in the market, or the humanitarian delivering food, they have a good look at them before they take the shot that will kill or maim them for life.    I visited a hospital where doctors told me around 70 per cent of their wounded patients have blast injuries from drones – 70, seven-zero, per cent – and where they’re moving the wards and the theatres underground to try and escape those drones. We had to run to avoid one example of that. You know, and the drone that had caused such damage to Kherson Hospital, you know, I handled that drone. It was a $300 drone. So, increasingly cheap and available munitions.    And I met the families who are trying to continue their lives in the face of these challenges: sleeping underground, learning online, desperately surviving day to day. And who keep going – they keep going despite those challenges. I met Serhii, who this morning, he delivers – an extraordinary humanitarian – delivers hot meals for his local humanitarian organization, and a drone attack cost him his leg. He turned up at the hospital and asked them to stick it back on. Went back to work within weeks, coordinating the teams delivering food to people who need it.    I met the doctors working around the clock in conditions of extreme danger. The volunteers evacuating people from the communities on the front lines. We were just a kilometre away yesterday from those front lines, and, as always, it’s the civilians who are doing the most to help their fellow civilians and local organizations on whom we depend. And I again pay tribute to their courage globally in the face of these challenges.    So you see this dystopian reality of these kill zones and kamikaze drones increasingly putting lethal power into the hands of more people, and all of that without the accountability that international humanitarian law demands.    We have a sense that it’s not just the killer who’s further from the victim, but that accountability and justice are further from the victim, and that the technology is changing every week as these drones become more sophisticated.    But what doesn’t change or must not change each week is international humanitarian law. The law is meant to protect us, meant to protect civilians from all weapons, however sophisticated they are. So we need investigations. We need accountability. We need the international community to uphold the law.    This isn’t just a Ukraine story. I’ve seen the way that armed drones are transforming war around the world. I was told in Somalia a few weeks ago by women that they were fleeing not famine or violence, but the drones that are following them round, as people are experimenting with cheaper and cheaper and more available technology.    So, from Sudan to Colombia to Gaza to Lebanon, these cheap armed drones are extending the reach of war and allowing people to kill at greater distance. A thousand civilians killed in Sudan in the first five months of the year. These numbers aren’t static – they are going up, including the numbers of kids killed.    We need States to uphold the law, and we need the companies who are manufacturing and supplying these weapons to understand international humanitarian law, to understand how these weapons are being used and to understand their obligations and responsibilities.    I fear, otherwise, that the death toll from these weapons will continue to rise, and we’ll be back again next year with another grim litany of statistics to share with you. Concern from Member States is not enough. 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