Humanitarian aid workers belonging to United Nations organisations, PVOs / NGOs or the Red Cross / Red Crescent are among the list of protected persons under international humanitarian law that grant them immunity from attack by belligerent parties. However, attacks on humanitarian workers have occasionally occurred, and become more frequent since the 1990s and 2000s. In 2017, the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD) documented 139 humanitarian workers killed in intentional attacks out of the estimated global population of 569,700 workers. In every year since 2013, more than 100 humanitarian workers were killed.[1] This is attributed to a number of factors, including the increasing number of humanitarian workers deployed, the increasingly unstable environments in which they work, and the erosion of the perception of neutrality and independence.[citation needed] In 2012 road travel was seen to be the most dangerous context, with kidnappings of aid workers quadrupling in the last decade, reaching more aid workers victims than any other form of attack.[2]
The foremost collector of data on attacks against humanitarian workers is the Aid Worker Security Database, which has strict parameters allowing for the data to be compared across the globe over time, producing useful analysis for the humanitarian, policy and academic community.[3] Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is another database that includes attacks on humanitarian workers in addition to other conflict-related incidents.[4] Insecurity Insight produces monthly Aid in Danger reports that highlight attacks during the month from news media, the AWSD and ACLED.[5]
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