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Causes of Death and casualties of NGO, RED CROSS, UN Agencies and Peacekeeper aid workers. (Based on data collected from all available sources from 1993 up to 2008)  There is a clear increase of the number of incidents from 1993 to 2008. high numbers and categories of incidents were reported in 2008. Robbery remains relatively stable over the years. Plane crashes and vehicle related incidents are much more deadly than other categories. Sexual violence incidents are often not reported, it is difficult to have a clear picture concerning this category. Number of dead and injured of NGO, RED CROSS, UN Agencies and Peacekeeper aid workers. (Based on data collected from available sources from 1993 up to 2008)  There is a clear increase of the number of death and injured from 1993 to 2008. Peaks in 2000 and 2003 can be explained by high number of deaths and casualties reported in Sierra-leone, Burundi & Sudan. Number of intentional and unintentional violence acts against NGO, RED-CROSS, UN Agencies and Peacekeeper aid workers. (Based on data collected from available sources from 1993 up to 2008)  There is a clear increase of intentional violence from 1993 to 2008. Peaks in 2000 and 2003 can be explained by high death and casualties reports from Sierra-leone, Burundi & Sudan. Unintentional violences are far less numourus that intentional violences. Vulnerability analysis, per organization types, based on NGO, RED-CROSS, UN Agencies and Peacekeepers. (Based on data collected from available sources from 1993 up to 2008) NGO  NGO (INGO & NGO) are suffering a wide range of risks. Appart from shelling, environmental, arrest and torture categories, all types of risks are affecting NGOs. The main death and injured risks are: - Vehicle related - Plane crash - Kidnapping The number of NGOs, the high number of projects and aid workers, NGO training capacities, etc. can explain those high numbers. Red Cross  The Red Cross is affected by a relatively small range of risks: The main death and injured risks are: - Vehicle related Kidnapping The Red cross most of the time use private planes. This highly limit the risk plane crashes. UN Agencies  UN agencies are affected by a relatively small range of risks: The main death and injured risks are: - Vehicle related - Plane crash - Kidnapping - Mine & explosives UN are sometimes using weapons and other military means to secure and protect their facilities, this could explain why UN agencies are not affected so much by other risk types. Peacekeepers  Peacekeepers are affected by a relatively small range of risks: The main death and injured risks are: - Plane crash - Vehicle related - Shelling - Mine & explosives If the risk categories are less, those are much more deadly than other categories. Comparative analysis  A comparaison of organization types highlights to the importance of adjusting security measures when working with one or another organization. The 4 main death and injured risks are: - Vehicle-related - Kidnapping - Plane crash - Mine & explosives Humanitarian organizations and aid workers should pay attention to those in the main risk categories as they are the most deadly in the field.  Worldwide statistics concerning Aid Workers’safety and security 68% Death due to intentional violences : Aid workers or Humanitarian Organisations clearly “targetted” 08% Death due to medical deseases (Malaria, hemoragic fevers, HIV AIDS) 17% Death due to vehicle (car) accident 07% Death due to unintentional violence 29% Aid workers (expatriates) that declare being witness to or experiencing “pressures” that could be qualified as sexual and/or moral harassment from colleagues or superiors during humanitarian missions they participate in 78% Aid workers that declared feeling in danger during the humanitarian missions they participate in 49% Expatriates that think INGOs are taking enough care about security within their projects and set up proper security tools that permit to work safely 7/1 Ratio of deaths between “National” and “Expatriate” aid workers (7 National deaths for each Expatriate death) 1/3 1/3 of the aid worker deaths occured in the first 3 months of mission 40 years The average age of aid workers killed 50% The percentage of aid workers killed with “high diplomas” 24 The number of aid worker deaths on average each year (calculated from 1942 to 2008) 36% The worldwide increase of UN Aid workers killed between 2007 and 2008 (source: UN General secretary) 61% Relative increase percentage of attacks against aid workers in the field in 2008 (including Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan). The 2008 fatality rate for international aid workers exceeds that of UN peacekeeping troops (Source: UNOCHA) 90% «...more than 90% of the air cargo carriers identified in arms trafficking-related reports had also been used for humanitarian aid and peace-keeping operations between 2004 - 2009.» (SIPRI report, 20.04.2010) 4,5 times "A private security contractor for Department of Defense in Afghanistan is 4.5 times more likely to be killed than uniformed personnel." (source: US Congressional report, 15.07.2010)  More statistics: (Source: HPG Policy Brief 34, April 2009)          (Source: UNOCHA, World humanitarian day 2009-2010)          Siren 515326387 Copyright © 2008-2014 HumanitarianProtection.org all rights reserved

It is currently difficult if not impossible to set up a proper humanitarian security incidents database.

Despite regular attempts to do so, humanitarian organizations are not willing to share information on that topic.


Humanitarianprotection.org managed to coordinate the data collection and set up

the most exhaustive (yet unfortunatly incomplete) “humanitarian security incident database” in existence which is compiled from:


  2. -NGOs, Red Cross, UN and peacekeeper data from 1942 until 2008.

  3. -More than 30 countries.

  4. -More than 30 nationalities.

  5. -More than 20 humanitarian organizations.