Amman, August 19 (Petra) President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Kate Forbes, and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljarić, called for stronger measures to protect humanitarian workers and volunteers and preserve the space needed for them to carry out their work safely.

In a statement marking World Humanitarian Day, they said that honouring the courage of humanitarian workers is not enough at a time when aid workers are being killed in record numbers.

They noted that the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has lost 12 workers since the beginning of this year in violence-related incidents while they were performing their duties, compared with 24 workers killed last year.

They called for preventing attacks on aid workers from becoming normalised, emphasising that the solution is not to demand greater courage from humanitarian personnel but to ensure they can perform their duties safely.

They warned that polarisation, declining trust and the spread of misinformation, coupled with rhetoric targeting humanitarian workers or questioning the neutrality of aid, are increasing the risks faced by humanitarian personnel and could turn online campaigns into real-world threats and attacks.

The two officials said that protecting humanitarian workers requires governments and parties to armed conflicts to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.

They added that 122 countries have signed the Declaration on the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel.

They added that protecting humanitarian workers is not a favour granted to humanitarian organisations, but a duty.

//Petra// AK