As the world prepares to mark World Humanitarian Day on August 19, data from theAid Workers Security Database shows that attacks on humanitarian workers in Kenya have been trending downwards since 2012.Attacks in Kenya over the past year dropped by about two-thirds, according to the database, which is compiled by the humanitarian advisory group, Humanitarian Outcomes.
An investigation by Nation Newsplex shows that the most common setting of violence against aid workers is a roadside ambush, when the intended victims are travelling and most vulnerable. Kidnapping was the most common form of violent attack faced by aid workers last year, closely followed by killing.
Despite the decline in attacks, humanitarian work remains risky globally. 329 aid workers in 27 countries were attacked around the world in 2014, with 120 killed, 88 injured and 121 kidnapped.
With about 280,000 humanitarian aid workers worldwide in 2010, according to the United Nation’s Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the chance of an aid worker being attacked is about one in 1,000, which makes assisting the world’s most vulnerable people a very dangerous undertaking.
When humanitarian workers enter a war zone, they are also at risk during the conflict, particularly where warring parties disregard the Geneva Convention.
Major attacks on humanitarian workers around the world fell by a third from last year’s high since 1994. In East Africa there was an 80 per cent drop in the number of humanitarian workers killed, from four in Kenya and one in Uganda in 2013, to one in Uganda in 2014.
CONVOY ATTACKED
The number of humanitarian workers injured in 2014 was half of the 2013 number, while the number of workers dropped by almost 25 per cent. Five of the injured workers were in Kenya and one in Tanzania.
Afghanistan was the most perilous country for aid workers worldwide with 54 attacks, followed by Syria, Southern Sudan, Central Africa Republic and Pakistan.
With the exception of Pakistan, all the top five countries are conflict zones.
A deeper look at the trend data for the last 17 years shows that an aid worker in Kenya was 16 times more likely to be a victim of a major attack than their counterpart in Tanzania.
From 1997 to 2014, Kenya led in major attacks on aid workers in East Africa with 62 victims, while two humanitarian workers in Tanzania were killed and two injured over the same period.
Of those attacked in Kenya, 18 were killed, 32 wounded and 12 kidnapped. Burundi was the second highest with 40 victims, followed by Uganda with 36 and Rwanda with 26 attacks, and in which 14 aid workers were killed and 12 wounded.
Last year no aid worker was killed in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, but a humanitarian worker was shot and killed during an armed robbery in Uganda.
The staffer and a driver were on their way from Mbarara town in South Western Uganda to Kampala, when they were intercepted by the robbers at Kyabagaza Village in Butambala District. A verbal altercation occurred between the individuals, resulting resulted in the staff member being shot. The driver and vehicle were then taken to a remote location, where he was stripped of his belongings.
In Kenya three Kenyans and two international aid workers were wounded last year. One was a driver who was part of an international humanitarian convoy when an armed militia attacked it. Another, an international NGO consultant, was shot in the leg when armed individuals attacked the bar he was in with grenades and small arms.
FEWER WORKERS DEPLOYED
Somalia has been dangerous for humanitarian workers since the country’s government collapsed amid infighting by warlords in 1991. The highest number of humanitarian workers, 49, were attacked in 2008. Of those, six were injured, 12 were killed and 11 were kidnapped. In 2014, humanitarian workers in Somalia suffered 13 attacks, a drop of 68 per cent form the 40 attacks suffered in 2013.
From 2007 to 2014, 22 workers attacked in Kenya were attacked in Garissa and Mandera, in 37 incidents. These constituted 59 per cent of all the workers attacked in Kenya, many of which were blamed on militias such as Al-Shabaab
According to Humanitarian Outcomes, an independent team of professionals providing research and policy advice, the reduction in incidents and causalities last year was due mainly to reduced or reconfigured operational presence in these countries, with fewer aid workers deployed to field locations deemed insecure.
World Humanitarian Day, which is held on August 19 every year, marks the anniversary of the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003 when 22 people died, and is intended to highlight the plight of aid workers.
According to the State of the Humanitarian System Report 2014, although the annual numbers and the scale of natural disasters fluctuate, the long-term trend in numbers of people affected has been generally upward since the mid-20th century.
The database is regarded as a respected reference for aid organisations and governments in assessing trends in security threats.
