A tribute to aid workers killed on duty

Aug 21, 2017

The humanitarian job seems to have become bigger and complicated, more than expected

By Simon J. Mone

Last week the world marked the World Humanitarian Day. And compassionate calls were made from across the humanitarian world.

Organisations and agencies came out to try and offer some consolation to the unfortunate people who, because of various situations cannot access any meaningful livelihood to support their families.

That demands for humanitarian assistance have now become bigger than before is no longer in doubt. Particularly in this unstable, insecure, conflicting, hungry and vulnerable world of ours, it is worth the mention, of the failures and problems that humanitarian endeavours are faced with, in trying to find solutions.

Also, we look at the vulnerability of aid workers who throw everything including their bodies in it, and risk their lives in the process. It is a mix of very many things. Globally, attention is directed at the needs for vulnerable people. More importantly, the world must strive to contain the causes of increasing vulnerabilities.

Otherwise, the challenges of meeting the needs of the needy are being worsened. Aid service agencies get attacked in the process. As we see escalation of violence against aid workers monthly, maybe daily. The humanitarian job seems to have become bigger and complicated, more than expected. And researchers, aid agencies and governments are spending sleepless nights, searching for better ways of conducting humanitarian business.

A lot of summits being convened are now centred on the future of humanitarian aid. Especially, efforts are being made to deliver the sustainability agenda among all other solutions. All these are taking place when humanitarian service provision continues being a victim of attack.

It makes it all extremely hard for aid workers to reach out to the people in need. Therefore, in every corner of this world, humanitarian workers have had to achieve their missions the hard way. But they haven't given up on their objectives of trying to relief people from suffering. Look at the World Food Programme (WFP).

It has particularly been a very key stakeholder in providing food assistance to feed a starving world. So the World Humanitarian Day was an occasion to commemorate the determination and dedication of aid agencies in stopping the suffering ofpeople.

It was a chance to honour the courage and commitment of aid workers for putting throwing their bodies on the line as they provide assistance even at the expense of their own lives. We see aid workers lose their lives in trying to save lives.

This year, we pay tribute to the humanitarian workers that lost their lives in the process of providing compassion to the needy. Special honour goes to; Daniel James, Ecsa Tearp and Ali Elario of WFP. These compassionate souls were killed in April in Wau, South Sudan on their way to work.

Despite their tragic ending, WFP did not close business in order to return to Rome. They continue to extend support to even the most hard-to-reach places. The Kasai province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where war took a bad dimension, has now attracted WFP.

They are there to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance so that vulnerable people may see hope, not despair. There are many aid workers who have laid down their lives in a similar way.

Therefore, we think there cannot be a better way of asking governments to end all conflicts going on in their midst, than lay down lives for their own people. Humanitarian workers respond to needs.

And far too often, these must be taken to conflict regions, where there is fighting and violence. So aid workers must get exposed. Let conflicting parties allow for passage of life-saving assistance to where it is needed. So for now, we say, long live WFP.

Writer is a civil engineer

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