Red Cross records increasing violence against its helpers
Published: Wednesday, Oct 23rd 2024, 19:40
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Humanitarian aid workers from the Red Cross and Red Crescent are facing increasing violence and worsening working conditions, according to the aid organization. "Our work is becoming increasingly difficult today," said Kate Forbes, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Wednesday at the IFRC General Assembly in Geneva.
"Global conflicts have intensified, putting civilians and our volunteers at risk, making the delivery of humanitarian aid even more difficult," Forbes added.
Representatives from 191 national Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations took part in the General Assembly. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a global humanitarian network of 80 million people working in disasters and conflicts. It employs a total of 16 million volunteers worldwide.
Since the beginning of the year alone, 30 volunteers from the network have been killed, explained the IFRC President. Most of them died in the Gaza war and the civil war in Sudan.
Each case is "a serious loss for the communities we serve and for our global network, and weakens our ability to support those in need," Forbes added. The increasing violence against humanitarian aid workers goes hand in hand with decreasing compliance with international law.
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