Source: United Nations (Video News)
The head of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Jagan Chapagain stressed the need to be “equally appalled” by attacks on both national and international humanitarians, reiterating “the humanitarians must be sacred.”
Chapagain spoke to reporters today (24 Sep) on the sideline of the 79th Session of the General Assembly in New York.
He said, “Since January, 30 Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and staff members had been killed while on duty, while wearing Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems, under the Geneva conventions, they had protective value.”
Seventeen of those staff members were killed in Palestine, eight were killed in Sudan.
The IFRC Secretary General added that twenty-seven of them died violently, rather than just an accident.
Chapagain highlighted that media reports coverage often was overwhelmingly of attacks on international staff instead of national staff.
He said, “As you know, the national humanitarians have access. They come from the communities. They don’t need visa. They don’t need to travel for days or weeks to be there, and if they come from the communities, lot of time they are trusted. They know the people, they know the people affected. They know the actors on the ground. And for any humanitarian action to be successful, to be efficient, to be effective, the role of these local humanitarians is paramount.”
Chapagain reiterated, “We need help from the governments and others to make sure that the local humanitarian workers are protected and the people of the institution whose actions lead to the killing of the humanitarians are somehow influenced – to stop that.