Latest news with #JoyceMsuya
Irish Examiner
12-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
We cannot stand back and watch the deaths of humanitarian aid workers who only try to bring relief
Years ago, like many doctors and nurses before me, I joined a humanitarian mission with an international medical charity. I was curious as to why some colleagues felt pulled towards volunteering in difficult and sometimes dangerous places. Within hours of arriving on my first trip to Ethiopia, I understood why thousands of Irish-trained healthcare professionals embark on this work. It is a labour of compassion. The sole motivation is to be with your fellow humans who are suffering, to try and relieve pain, and show them that the world has not abandoned them. My family were reassured that I was travelling with an organised mission and would therefore be protected. In winter 2010, I went to Syria. The mission was cut short, and we were evacuated, as conflict originally contained in some rebel areas began to spread to the cities. While our safety was prioritised, many other agencies remained and continued working. Last month, the world observed a humanitarian aid convoy attacked in Gaza, its aid workers shot and buried under rubble. Since the brutal violence and killings escalated in Gaza, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), at least 408 aid workers have died. The strange dual morality that meant aid workers could enter a conflict zone and not be attacked – a law of bandits as it were – has been eviscerated. Recent video footage of aid trucks emblazoned with flashing red lights and international symbols of humanitarian aid, which are under attack by the Israeli military, shreds any belief that healthcare staff are protected in war. Since April 2023, hundreds of attacks have been carried out on healthcare staff and health facilities in Sudan, depriving children of vaccines and mothers of antenatal care. These violations of protection of hospitals and community health centres have continued now for two years, with disastrous effects on basic healthcare for millions of people. Since the war broke out in Sudan, according to the UN, at least 84 humanitarian workers have been killed. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued an appeal in January 2024 that 18.2 million Yemeni people would require urgent humanitarian assistance. Aid Worker Security, an NGO working in Yemen, recorded 12 'major attacks' on aid workers in Yemen in 2024, and six in 2023. Six aid workers were killed in Yemen across the two years. The displacement of people, food insecurity and disruption of healthcare has affected primarily women and children, spiralling an urgent need for more aid and healthcare intervention. In an April meeting with the United Nations Security Council, Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General with the UN aid co-ordination office, said that 2024 was "the deadliest ever" for aid workers. Humanitarian workers are being killed in unprecedented numbers with 377 fatalities across 20 countries. This was nearly one hundred more than in 2023, which already saw a 137% increase in 2022. Many more aid workers were injured, intimidated, kidnapped, attacked and arbitrarily detained. Increasingly, humanitarian workers appear to be considered as targets, perhaps because they represent an international presence on the ground, and perhaps because of the comfort and hope that they provide. This is completely counter to the philosophy of humanitarian assistance that emerged out of the ashes of the Second World War, where politics and diplomacy were used as tools to disarm, with a stream of aid continuing regardless of negotiations. Ireland has contributed much to international aid missions, responding to war and natural disasters; with healthcare and logistics staff volunteering as part of organisations such as Médecins sans Frontieres and the International Red Cross. Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine has been steadfast in their support for people suffering in Gaza. In recent years there have been small Irish-led missions into Haiti, Ethiopia, Vietnam and Ukraine, focusing on providing healthcare, humanitarian aid, and peacekeeping. In our six medical schools, generations of students have fundraised and worked in countries in need of basic medical aid. They leave a legacy of medical training and return home with a new understanding of the meaning of healthcare which they carry forward. As we sit in the safety and familiarity of our homes and workplaces, watching with horror as the news unfolds, the lives of millions of people hang suspended waiting for the world to make up its mind. There is a danger of compassion fatigue as we bear witness, seemingly powerless. No matter your stance, it is unconscionable to stand by while humanitarian workers are targeted. The day has arrived for people to show solidarity for aid workers in every region: we cannot stand back and watch the deaths of people who only try to bring relief. Dr Suzanne Crowe is President of the Medical Council Read More UN reports hundreds more dead after two-day RSF assault on Sudan refugee camps
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Security Council Not Doing Enough To Protect Humanitarians, UN Relief Official Says
The United Nations official who helps oversee emergency relief efforts demanded on Wednesday that the Security Council step up and take concrete action to protect aid workers, at a time when targeted violence against humanitarians in conflict zones is both alarmingly high and increasingly normalized. The UNSC's member states met to discuss Resolution 2730, which was adopted last year to uphold the safety and security of humanitarian staff operating in armed conflict. But almost one year and many more killings later, the UN's deputy relief chief is drilling the council to actually put actions to words and hold perpetrators to account. 'Let us be clear: There is no shortage of robust international legal frameworks to protect humanitarian and UN workers,' Joyce Msuya told the council. 'Human rights law and standards, conventions relating to the UN's activities and personnel, and international humanitarian law together provide clear obligations to safeguard humanitarian personnel, assets and operations.' 'What is lacking is the political will to comply.' The meeting occurred just a few days after crews from the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society recovered the bodies of 15 medics and emergency responders from a mass grave in southern Gaza. Israeli forces killed the workers several days earlier while they were trying to save lives, and the OCHA team on the ground recalled witnessing Israeli soldiers shoot fleeing civilians. In a separate attack on March 19, Israeli forces killed a UN staffer and injured six others ― bringing the number of aid workers killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, to at least 408, which the UN says makes the Palestinian territory the most dangerous place for humanitarians ever. 'We extend our condolences to the families of the victims. We demand answers and call for justice,' Msuya said. 'And since we are here today to discuss the protection of aid workers, I must ask this council: What are you going to do to help us find those answers and achieve justice, and avoid more killings?' Last year was the deadliest on record for humanitarians, with 377 aid workers killed across 20 countries, and many more injured, kidnapped, attacked and arbitrarily detained. About 95% of those deaths are local humanitarians who Msuya described as pillars of international relief efforts. 'We have become numb to this violence,' Msuya said. 'Being shot at is not ― I repeat, is not ― part of our job.' As much as international aid workers remain unprotected in conflict zones, local aid workers are even more vulnerable. On top of facing death, injury or abduction, local humanitarian staff in regions like Palestine, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo also deal with disinformation campaigns that paint them as terrorists, putting a target on their back and normalizing any violence against them, all while receiving little to no media coverage. 'It's an endless loop of blood, pain, death. And Gaza has become a death trap,' Jonathan Whittall, OCHA's head for Palestine, told reporters on Wednesday. 'We cannot accept – and as humanitarians, I need to emphasize this – that we cannot accept that Palestinian civilians are dehumanized to the point of being somehow unworthy of survival.' 'And yet today unfortunately marks one month without any supplies entering into Gaza. That's one month of no food, no fuel, no aid, nothing. Nothing has entered,' he continued. 'So 2.1 million people are trapped, bombed, starved – and the consequences are apparent to all of us that are here. It's mostly apparent to the people that are living through this war.' Msuya reminded member states that they must protect humanitarians, ensure countries are abiding by international law, and to speak out when they're not because 'silence, inconsistency and selective outrage only embolden perpetrators.' The UNSC also has to actually follow through on imposing consequences to those who harm humanitarians 'without exception,' she added. 'The Security Council should play a key role in pushing for accountability … by asking concerned governments to pursue justice and by following up with them,' Msuya said. 'When national jurisdictions fail, the council can use international mechanisms, including by referring situations to the International Criminal Court.'
