ICRC Mourns 48 Slain Colleagues on World Red Cross Day
This World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, we mourn our colleagues who were appallingly killed while trying to save lives. Their deaths demand far more than empty words of outrage—they demand action.
The international community cannot continue to look away as the rules of war are ignored, and humanitarian workers are deliberately targeted. Every attack on a humanitarian is an attack on the community they served, and a betrayal to the laws designed to protect civilians and alleviate suffering in conflict.
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The brutal killing of our colleagues at the Palestine Red Crescent Society in March sparked a global outcry. But their story is not isolated. From Gaza to Sudan, Ukraine, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, our colleagues are coming under fire while driving ambulances, distributing aid, and reaching frontline communities in need.
Already this year, we have lost 10 colleagues. This follows the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement alone losing 38 staff and volunteers in 2024. If this horrifying pattern continues, 2025 may be even worse.
States and parties to conflict bear direct responsibility for reversing this disturbing and dangerous trend by protecting humanitarian workers, upholding international humanitarian law, and standing up for our shared humanity. The time to act is now.
Aliyu Dawobe, ICRC Nigeria (Abuja),
