In his address to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday regarding the safety and security of humanitarian workers under Security Council Resolution 2730, Tom Fletcher, the UN relief chief, urged the Council to take urgent action to better protect humanitarian workers. He noted that more than 1,000 aid workers have been killed while carrying out their work in the past three years.
More than 560 of these deaths occurred in Gaza and the West Bank, 130 in Sudan, 60 in South Sudan, 25 in Ukraine, and 25 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“That number – over 1,000 – compares to 377 recorded as killed globally over the previous three years – so that’s almost tripling the death count,” said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
He added that these humanitarians were killed while distributing food, water, medicine and shelter. Many were killed while travelling in clearly marked convoys on missions coordinated with the relevant authorities.
“This is not an accidental escalation; it is a collapse of protection,” Fletcher said, underscoring that too often aid workers were killed by Member States of the United Nations.
“Humanitarians know we face risks. It is the nature of our work, the places in which we operate.”
He said that humanitarians do not die because they are reckless, but because parties to the conflict are.
On behalf of over a thousand deceased humanitarian workers and their families, Fletcher asked the Council why they were killed and why their deaths were not prevented.
More than 110 member states have chosen to work together through the political declaration on protecting humanitarians. However, according to Fletcher, humanitarians are not only being killed across multiple crises. They are also being restricted, penalized, and delegitimized.
“We are told where not to go, whom not to help. We are harassed or arrested for doing our job. And we are lied about – and those lies have these consequences,” he said.
“And, of course, when humanitarians are harmed, aid often stops. Clinics close, food doesn’t arrive.”
Fletcher warned that the deaths of humanitarians all too often result in the death of hope for the millions who rely on them.
“These trends, alongside the collapse in funding for our lifesaving work, are a symptom of a lawless, bellicose, selfish and violent world,” he stressed.
“Killing humanitarians is part of the broader attack on the UN Charter and on international humanitarian law.”
The UN relief chief reminded the Security Council of its obligation to uphold international humanitarian law.
“International humanitarian law was never, and is not now, an academic exercise. In honor of our colleagues killed, and in solidarity with those now risking their lives, we ask you to act with much greater conviction, consistency and courage,“ he said.
“Because if we cast aside these hard-won principles [of protection, integrity, accountability], then the integrity of this Council, and the laws we are here to protect, die with our colleagues,” Fletcher concluded.
For his part, Gilles Michaud, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security, said that attacks on humanitarians no longer come only from non-state armed groups; they also come from member states and "de facto" authorities, some of whom seek and claim international legitimacy. Unfortunately, these perpetrators are rarely held accountable.
Over the last seven years, the humanitarian community’s risk tolerance has risen to unprecedented levels, Michaud told the Security Council. UN staff in the field are tolerating risks that no one here would ever accept.
In May 2024, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2730 to combat the surge in violence against aid workers. While the resolution strongly condemned attacks and mandated that conflict parties protect humanitarian personnel and assets, the situation has since deteriorated.
Despite the new legal requirements, 2024 became the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, with over 380 killed globally, primarily due to unprecedented casualties in Gaza. In 2025, at least 330 aid workers were killed in the line of duty.
Further information
Full text: Statement to the UN Security Council by Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, pursuant to Resolution 2730 (2024) on the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and the protection of United Nations and associated personnel, delivered on April 8, 2026
https://www.unocha.org/news/over-1000-aid-workers-killed-often-hands-member-states-un-relief-chief-demands-action