By Segun Otokiti, Abuja
WorldStage Newsonline– The United Nations, under the auspices of Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Nigeria, held the World Humanitarian Day 2025 on Tuesday, August 19 at the UN House in Abuja. The programme was described as holding to commemorate the global humanitarian day and honour the memory of aid workers of the international organisation who have lost their lives while helping others affected by conflicts and disasters to secure theirs.
The honour readily comes to reckoning when killings of aid workers of diverse global humanitarian institutions have become the norm during wars within or between member nations of the UN, with particular reference to conflicts and wars going on between Russia and Ukraine in one hand and between Israel and Palestine Gaza on the other.
Moreover, in recent years, the eruption and intensification of several conflicts around the world have exacerbated challenges to humanitarian action and threats faced by humanitarian personnel in conflict. According to the Aid Worker Security Database, 379 aid workers were killed in 2024, making it the deadliest year on record for humanitarian personnel.
This continued a trend from 2023, during which 280 aid workers were killed, representing a 137 percent increase from the year before. The war in Gaza has fuelled a large share of the rising fatalities: between October 2023 and November 2024, 320 humanitarian personnel were killed there, the majority of whom worked for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
High levels of kidnappings, injuries, harassment, and arbitrary detention of aid workers were also reported in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen, among other countries.
Indeed, the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, much acknowledged and lamented the constant fatal pounce on aid workers in line of duty in his speech delivered by WHD video message during the programme at the UN House, Abuja on Tuesday. He not only rued the ugly development but expressed regret that despite the UN having the tools to deal with humanitarian violations and emergencies the lack of political will by international leaders as well as stakeholders has continued to be the militating factor against the organization’s mandate of securing the safety of both its aid workers and of people trapped in conflict or war situations.
Also reflecting on the fate of UN’s aid workers in rescue and hospitality missions, OCHA, in a call to action tagged #ActForHumanity stated: “On 19 August, we mark World Humanitarian Day — a time to honor those who step into crises to help others, and to stand with the millions of people whose lives hang in the balance.
“This year the message is clear: the humanitarian system is stretched to its limits; underfunded, overwhelmed and under attack. Where bombs fall and disasters strike, humanitarian workers are the ones holding the line keeping people alive, often at great personal risk. But more and more those who help are becoming targets themselves.”
It disclosed that in 2024 alone over 380 humanitarian workers were killed, some in the line of duty, others in their homes, and that hundreds more have been injured, kidnapped or detained. It therefore expressed worry that there is reason to fear 2025 could be worse.
OCHA observed that too often the world looks away, even when these attacks violate international law, alleging that the laws meant to protect aid workers are ignored. It claimed that those responsible walk free but warned the silence and lack of accountability cannot continue.
“The system is failing not just humanitarian workers, but the people they serve. We’re not at a crossroads anymore. We’re standing at the edge. Needs are rising. Funding is falling. Attacks on aid workers are breaking records,” OCHA stated in regret.
Given this disclosure of disadvantages by the UN boss as well as OCHA, concern now comes about need of the organization’s department for humanitarian affairs if it cannot protect its own staff, let alone ordinary people cut in the web of war crisis. What are the limitations to the UN Secretary General’s office in dealing with the lack of political will he attributed to leaders of member states? Will he rather give in to enjoyment of perks of office than calling the leaders to question and enlisting their commitment to safety of all in crisis situations?
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has a mandate to coordinate international humanitarian action, particularly in complex emergencies, natural disasters, and technological disasters.
OCHA’s core functions include coordination, humanitarian financing, policy development, advocacy, and information management. It also aims to ensure a coherent and effective response to humanitarian crises, support the Emergency Relief Coordinator, and advocate for the rights of people affected by crises.
Other UN entities with a primary responsibility for delivering humanitarian aid include the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with all having primary roles in the delivery of relief assistance while the World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates the response to humanitarian health emergencies.
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was established in 1992 following the UN General Assembly’s request to the Secretary-General for a body to coordinate the different UN agencies carrying out humanitarian assistance in emergency situations. The UN Department for Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) was established directly under the Secretary-General and was streamlined and renamed the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in 1998.
OCHA’s mandate is still based on General Assembly Resolution 46/182 (14 April 1992), which established DHA. Its mandate is to “mobilize and coordinate the collective efforts of the international community, in particular those of the UN system” in responding to “complex humanitarian emergencies” (political crises or conflicts), natural disasters, or technological disasters (e.g., nuclear disasters). It also focuses on policy development for all humanitarian issues, including examining any existing gaps in the protection and assistance mandates of the agencies.
The operational activities that DHA used to carry out, however, were redistributed to other UN bodies or specialized agencies.
OCHA’s mandate rests on the fact that the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national unity of States must be respected, in conformity with the UN Charter. In this context, humanitarian assistance can only be provided with the consent of the State concerned. In principle and in practice, this means that the assistance should actually be provided on the basis of a formal request by the affected country.
However, carrying through with the daunting mandates have always been challenged by unsavoury actions of both the state and non state actors in conflict situations, and this has led to OCHA facing criticism for failures in coordination, accountability, and effectiveness, particularly in complex emergencies.
Some of the key failure issues include: Lack of clear leadership – humanitarian coordinators, while providing strategic oversight, often delegate day-to-day operational coordination to others, leading to duplication and a lack of unified leadership; Agency self-interest – individual UN agencies may prioritize their own funding and mandates over a coordinated response, hindering effective collaboration; Weaknesses in inter-cluster coordination – while clusters are meant to coordinate specific sectors, their effectiveness can be hampered by agency rivalries and lack of clear accountability.
Other are accountability issues, manifesting in lack of clear terms of agreement with governments – in some cases, programs lack explicit agreements with governments, potentially compromising the rights and protection of displaced populations; Limited monitoring and evaluation – failures to establish robust monitoring systems can hinder the ability to assess the impact of aid and identify areas for improvement; Reluctance to criticize human rights abuses – some UN agencies have been criticized for being hesitant to challenge governments on human rights violations, particularly when it comes to the treatment of displaced populations.
There is also the issue of concern for effectiveness, which stalls aid operations. In some cases, aid operations have been hampered by logistical challenges, security concerns, and inadequate infrastructure, preventing aid from reaching those in need.
Worse still, OCHA faces the challenges of ineffective delivery of aid, with instances of aid not being delivered effectively or safely, leading to further suffering and hardship; Lack of capacity building – in some contexts, there’s a need for more focus on building local capacity and empowering communities to respond to emergencies; Specific examples of failures – in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the UN faced criticism for its slow response and failure to protect civilians; the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 highlighted the UN’s inability to prevent mass atrocities and led to the development of the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine; while in Gaza, the UN has criticized the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US- and Israel-backed aid group, for failing to deliver supplies safely.
These failures highlight the need for ongoing reforms within the UN system to improve coordination, accountability, and effectiveness in humanitarian response.
But the UN and international community appear powerless to limit the methods of warfare, implement a ceasefire, call up UN forces to protect civilians in Gaza, or ensure accountability. Moreover, the current conflict illustrates a structural failure of the UN: the imbalance of power between a small group of states and the majority of states and peoples in the world.
The power imbalance in the UN has dead-locked the governing UN bodies: the 15-member Security Council (SC) and the 193-member General Assembly (GA). All member states of the UN have an equal vote in the GA. In contrast, the SC’s five permanent members have the power to veto any resolution, while the ten remaining members can vote but have no veto power. Therefore, a single UN member state can defeat the will of the vast majority of states.
To address the structural defects, UN member states have attempted to address the weaknesses through reforms, including the 2006 establishment of the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review, and the renewed UN-led commitment known as the responsibility to protect (R2P). Another reform, the 1950 “Uniting for peace” resolution, allowed the GA to call emergency special sessions for the ceasefire votes on October 27 and December 12. Unfortunately, this process grants the GA no power to implement its vote.
These partial reform efforts leave prevention and accountability for the gravest international crimes in the hands of other international mechanisms and civil society. One important mechanism is the 1948 Genocide Convention, which requires all states parties to prevent and punish genocidal acts. Genocidal acts are defined as killing, causing bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions intended to and causing the physical destruction of an entire or part of a group. Any state party to the Genocide Convention can bring a claim to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
However, as discouraging and seemingly these challenges are, OCHA does not exist without some significant successes. According to a UN report, the UN and partner organizations, in 2023, aimed to assist 245 million people through 36 country plans and 9 regional plans. This represents a 7 per cent increase in the original number of people targeted for assistance at the beginning of 2023, and was largely driven by the crisis in Sudan, the conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and natural disasters in Afghanistan, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Syria and Türkiye.
It’s also on UN’s record that of all the people targeted by plans at country level, 128 million (62 per cent) benefitted from at least one form of aid during the year. To provide this life-saving assistance, humanitarians innovated and invested in new partnerships.
The voices and agency of affected communities were re-affirmed, at the center of the assistance. Local and national organizations were recognized as critical to providing efficient and dignified assistance to the communities in need, in addition to private sector actors, who supported humanitarian response in at least 15 crises through 2023.
To mitigate casualty and fatality suffered by aid workers in humanitarian missions, the Security Council in April 2024 held an open briefing on the implementation of resolution 2730 of 24 May 2024, which concerns the protection of humanitarian personnel and UN and associated personnel and their premises and assets. Till date, that has remained the template of the United Nations for the protection its aid workers seriously need to retain their lives while covering for those of others.
