Humanitarian relief efforts in conflict areas face significant risks due to potential attacks on aid workers and aid shipments, which impede the delivery of assistance to civilians. In 2023, the highest number of humanitarian workers were killed, totaling 280 deaths—most of them in Gaza—according to United Nations statistics.
Although there are existing legal frameworks agreed upon to protect humanitarian operations and those who carry them out, parties to the conflict often disregard these laws. This negligence increases the risks faced by all stages of humanitarian operations, ultimately disrupting life-saving efforts. These operations aim to ensure civilians’ right to access humanitarian relief during times of disaster and conflict. For civilians to receive this right, humanitarian workers must have unrestricted access to affected populations and work under conditions that allow them to carry out their necessary tasks.
International humanitarian law, including the Geneva and Rome Conventions, provides guidelines for the protection of humanitarian workers and assets during armed conflicts. There are also a range of measures that can be implemented to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian operations. These include negotiating access with all conflict parties, maintaining strict neutrality and impartiality, using secure communication channels, and ensuring that staff are properly trained in conflict-sensitive methods. However, the most critical guarantee for the protection of humanitarian workers is the adherence of conflict parties to international humanitarian law and ensuring that necessary aid reaches civilians in conflict zones.
A Broad Framework:
The rights of civilians and humanitarian workers during wartime are protected under a broad umbrella of legal, operational, security, and technological arrangements. From a legal perspective, ensuring compliance with laws and holding accountable those responsible for attacks on humanitarian workers and assets is crucial. States must fulfill their obligations under international law by respecting and protecting humanitarian workers through enhancing mechanisms for prosecuting perpetrators of such attacks. This serves as both a deterrent and a way to reinforce compliance with international humanitarian standards.
Protecting humanitarian aid flows requires a multifaceted approach that combines legal frameworks, field strategies, technological solutions, community engagement, and creative thinking. By prioritizing the safety of aid workers and supply chains in conflict-affected areas through these combined methods, life-saving assistance can reach those in dire need, and the people providing that assistance can be protected.
Key Principles for Protecting Civilians:
Humanitarian and relief organizations derive their right to operate in conflict zones from key principles that allow them to work during times of war and armed conflict, in accordance with international humanitarian law outlined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols. These principles include humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.
The Protection Offered by International Conventions:
The Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War is one of the main legal foundations for protecting aid workers and civilians during conflict and armed engagements. It requires that “staff who are exclusively and regularly engaged in operating and administering civilian hospitals, including those tasked with searching for, collecting, transporting, and treating the wounded, sick civilians, disabled persons, and women, must be respected and protected.” Additionally, according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, “intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units, or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the UN Charter, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict,” constitutes a war crime. Furthermore, the protection of humanitarian and relief workers has become a mandatory rule of customary law, binding on all parties in armed conflicts.
Security Arrangements:
In addition to the legal protections provided by international conventions, humanitarian and relief organizations are increasingly spending on necessary security arrangements to protect their convoys and workers due to heightened security concerns during conflicts. Organizations operating in conflict zones devote more time and resources to extensively screening their staff, equipping aid convoys with costly security measures, and securing warehouses to protect both civilians and workers. This involves negotiating and coordinating with warring parties to transport and distribute aid and medical services to civilians outside active combat zones through humanitarian corridors and aid convoys.
Relying on Innovation and Technology:
Modern technological means have also become one of the tools for protecting humanitarian workers during times of war and conflict. Innovative ideas such as creating safe corridors or protected areas for aid delivery, using modern technology like shipment tracking devices, drones to monitor unsafe areas, and secure data management systems can enhance the flow of aid.”
The Gaza Crisis and Humanitarian Relief:
The war in Gaza has demonstrated on a large scale how all the security and legal guarantees aimed at protecting civilians and humanitarian workers may not fully prevent attacks on aid workers during conflicts. The conflict that erupted in October 2023 has shown that attacks on humanitarian workers remain a persistent possibility and a real risk during such conflicts.
The Escalation of Risks and Conflicts:
The rise in the number of armed conflicts has increased the dangers faced by humanitarian workers. More than 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since last October, including at least 175 UN workers. This number is three times higher than the death toll recorded in any other conflict over a single year. Apart from Gaza, Sudan and South Sudan have also witnessed high numbers of deaths among humanitarian workers, with 25 and 34 deaths, respectively.
Centrality of the Gaza Crisis:
Despite the outbreak of several crises and armed conflicts in Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, and other regions, the Gaza crisis has been a focal point for the targeting of humanitarian workers. Unlike other conflicts, Gaza has seen direct attacks on aid and relief workers. One of the most devastating attacks occurred when a convoy from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) team was struck by Israeli forces in Gaza as it was leaving a warehouse, resulting in the tragic deaths of individuals from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Palestine.
Responsibility of the Occupying Power in Protecting Aid Workers:
International humanitarian law stipulates the responsibility of the occupying power in providing, protecting, and facilitating the safe distribution of humanitarian aid to the civilian population. This includes taking the necessary steps to ensure that aid is delivered safely and freely across the occupied territories, as well as ensuring the safe movement of all humanitarian workers.
In conclusion, the recent conflicts, especially the Gaza crisis, have revealed the shortcomings of legal rules and other security measures intended to protect humanitarian organizations, workers, and life-saving aid shipments. This may necessitate an international review of the regulations governing humanitarian work and protection tools, along with the system of punishment and deterrence for those targeting aid workers. Given the growing intensity of global conflicts and the dependence of thousands of civilians on humanitarian relief efforts, it is likely that some amendments to the legal frameworks, particularly the Geneva Convention, will be proposed as it is the primary document governing such matters.
