Aid workers as vulnerable as Syrians they're helping: ICRC

The Red Cross and Red Crescent aid agencies say humanitarian worker casualties in Syria are not the only threat faced by aid workers.

Members of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society Getty.jpg

Members of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. (Getty)

Access to Syrian civilians caught and displaced by the country's civil war continues to be the biggest challenge for humanitarian aid workers.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent is calling for both sides to recognise the impartial role it plays in bringing humanitarian relief to the nearly ten million people affected.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says global pressure is also needed to protect aid workers.

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It's been 30 months since Syria's civil war began in 2011.

And the country's Red Crescent humanitarian movement says not enough is being done to bring food, shelter and health services to millions who need it.

Syrian Arab Red Crescent head of Operations is Khaled Erksoussi.

"Now, if you go into a village or a city it's very hard to distinguish between people who are internally displaced and people who just need help because all the people in the villages need help. And for that we are urging the international committee, we are urging the donors to focus on Syria and to put their money where their mouth is. There's a lot of talk, a lot of noise about rasing the attention. Raising the attention will be interpreted by donating, by sending food, by sending enough material for the winter that's coming and people don't have places to live."

The International Committee of the Red Cross works to protect the lives of victims of armed conflict.

But Director General of the ICRC, Yves Daccord, says his organisation's workers have been targeted while providing aid.

He says the security challenges aid workers face change every 24 hours.

"What you know today is maybe not true tomorrow, especially on the frontline. The frontline is not a line which stays so they can really be very volatile. That's one element, the second element is there are numerous armed groups. So not only the government and one opposition, within the opposition there are a lot of groups and they are not at all coordinated. Which means particularly for my organisation, we have to negotiate our access with many more people."

President of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Doctor Abdul Rahman Attar says 31 volunteer aid workers from his organisation have already been killed.

But he says that hasn't deterred more volunteers from signing up.

"I was taking two volunteers with me to visit north Europe. One of the volunteers was making a presentation at a university in Amsterdam. They asked her why she became a volunteer? Her answer in front of a thousand people was, 'I lost my university, I have no money, I have my life, I give it to the Red Crescent.' This is the contribution of the volunteers in Syria for their people and for the most vulnerable people."

But Mr Daccord says humanitarian aid casualties in Syria are not the only threat faced by aid workers.

"Not only are people being killed, one of my concerns is that people are getting arrested sometimes as well. Or as it happens to my people, taken hostage. We had several people taken hostage, three of them are still hostages and that puts a lot of pressure on my organisation and on my colleagues, as you know we work without military escort at all."

Pressure, says Mr Daccord, is also what is needed from the international community to protect aid workers.

"We would need the same type of convergence that we have seen at the international level for dealing with chemical weapons. Chemical weapons was a terribly story and it was amazing to see that for once there was a possibility to bring everybody on board to put pressure. And you could see the Syrian government suddenly abiding under this pressure. I would be happy if we find the same level of commitment and pressure from the international community about humanitarian access."

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent estimates almost ten million Syrians need humanitarian aid, including six million Syrians who have been displaced within the country.

But Khaled Erksoussi says regardless of their personal safety, volunteers will continue to provide humanitarian relief.

"It can continue as long as we are receiving support, we are receiving donations from the international community, from the national societies like the Australian Red Cross, like the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent. We are hoping that the people who are paying money for the guns maybe will get tired before the people who are paying money for the humanitarian aid."


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5 min read

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By Marc Tong



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