At least 326 humanitarian aid workers were killed worldwide in 2025, announced Tom Fletcher, the head of humanitarian operations at the United Nations on Wednesday.
The number of aid workers killed last year (326) was below the sad record of 383 deaths in 2024.
Over the past three years, more than 1,000 aid workers were killed, according to Fletcher – representing "almost a threefold increase" on the figures for the period 2020–2022, when 377 humanitarian workers lost their lives.
Most of the aid workers who died over the past three years lost their lives in Gaza and the West Bank (560), followed by Sudan (130), South Sudan (60), Ukraine (25) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (25).
They were killed while helping people with food, water, shelter or medicines. Fletcher emphasises that they were killed in clearly marked convoys and during missions that had been directly coordinated with the authorities – often UN member states.
The figures do not represent a random escalation, but demonstrate the structural collapse of humanitarian aid and the associated international humanitarian law, Fletcher said.
"Together with the collapse of funding for our work, this is a symptom of a lawless, war-mongering, selfish and violent world," he stressed.
The dangers and risks remain acute in 2026 as well. In Yemen, 73 UN staff members and dozens of NGO workers are still being held captive by the Houthi rebels. In Afghanistan, female aid workers are not allowed to do their jobs. In Gaza, Israel is "imposing restrictions on UN organisations". And in Ukraine, drone attacks have forced aid organisations to withdraw from the frontline area.
