WUNRN
HUMANITARIAN SERVICE BECOMING
INCREASINGLY DANGEROUS - MORE CRISES, RISKS, INJURIES & LOSSES - WOMEN
& MEN AID WORKERS
FULL ARTICLE: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/report-two-female-italian-aid-workers-ages-20-and-21-kidnapped-syria
Two
Female Italian Aid Workers, Ages 20 & 21, Kidnapped in Syria
Abducted:
Vanessa Marzullo, 21 (left) and Greta Ramelli, 20, (right) were working on
humanitarian projects in
August 15,
2014 - The group that has kidnapped Miss Ramelli and Miss Marzullo have not yet
been formally identified, but Jordanian newspaper Assabeel was quoted
as saying investigators believe they an armed Islamist group which has
previously kidnapped Western activists and journalists.
Although
official details of the kidnapping remain sketchy, the newspaper cites a local
activist as saying the women were kidnapped on August 1 and taken to the town
of El Ismo, west of Aleppo where they were transported to the home of the head
of the local 'Revolutionary Council'.
The newspaper claimed the activist told them that details of the abduction
came from Italian journalist Daniele Raineri of Il Foglio, who they say was
taken along with the women but managed to escape.
Speaking to the
Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera today, Miss Marzullo's father
said he had pleaded with his daughter not to travel to Syria to distribute aid,
but she had insisted on doing so......
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http://www.voanews.com/content/world-humanitarian-day-19aug14/2418639.html
The World Health Organization warns of a growing trend of
targeting health workers and hospitals during conflicts and humanitarian
crises. ____________________________________________________________________________________
HUMANITARIAN HEROS & HEROINES
By
Elizabeth Ferris, Co-Director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal
Displacement and a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy
August 19,2014 - Humanitarian work is a noble endeavor. As a
political scientist, I know that humanitarian aid is often used for political
purposes and that well-meaning humanitarians can do a lot of damage. But in my
heart of hearts, I still believe that there is something good and noble about
working in the humanitarian field –delivering food and water to desperate
people, protecting refugees and displaced people fleeing persecution, building
houses for those whose homes have been destroyed by wars or typhoons. It’s not
always the most politically popular work, as evident to those working with
Central American children arriving on U.S. borders, or negotiating access for
food deliveries in Al-Shabaab-controlled areas of Somalia. The humanitarians
who work in these – and dozens of other situations deserve recognition and
support.
They also need practical
support because the fact is that humanitarian work is becoming more dangerous –
a theme which the United Nations picked up in deciding to commemorate August
19th as World Humanitarian Day. On this date eleven years ago, the U.N.
headquarters in Iraq was bombed, killing 22 people, most notably Sergio de Vieira de Mello. According to some reports, the
number of humanitarian workers killed in action has tripled in the past decade. Most recently, 30
aid workers were killed in Gaza between July 8 and August 12,
including 11 United Nations Relief and Works Agency staff members, 11 medical
personnel and 8 firefighters, while another 74 were left injured. In South
Sudan, six aid workers were killed in the first week of August. As of last
week, the World Health Organization reports that more than 170 health-care workers
have been infected by the Ebola virus and at least 81 have died. Forty-three
staff members of the Syrian and Palestine Red Crescent have been killed in Syria since the beginning of that
conflict.
Aid workers have always
died on the job, but now they are working in more dangerous places. There is an
expectation that even in the midst of chaos and war, humanitarian agencies will
figure out a way to provide assistance. And the paradox is that places where
the humanitarian need is the greatest are often precisely the areas where it is
most dangerous for aid agencies to work. Most worryingly, aid workers are
increasingly targeted because they are aid workers. The International Committee
of the Red Cross reported over 1800 violent incidents against
health personnel in 2013.
World Humanitarian Day
is a time to remember the humanitarian workers who risk their lives in dozens
of places every day. These are the people who are working when bombs are
falling, houses are collapsing and disease is spreading. We also need to
remember that today’s humanitarian heroes are mostly local and national staff
and volunteers who suffer higher casualty rates than Western aid workers and
whose deaths receive far less media attention. Local community leaders are
often assassinated when they seek to protect and assist their own people, as is
the case with leaders of displaced communities. World
Humanitarian Day reminds us that there are many humanitarian heroes. Given the
growing number of humanitarian crises in the world
today, many more will be needed in the future.
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