This World Humanitarian Day, our staff and volunteers around the world will stand in solidarity to spotlight the horrifying toll of armed conflicts on their colleagues and all civilians, particularly children.
The brutal hostilities we are seeing in multiple conflicts around the world have exposed a terrible truth: we are living in an era of impunity. Attacks that kill or injure civilians, including humanitarian and healthcare personnel, are devastatingly common. Yet despite widespread condemnation, serious violations of the rules of war too often go unpunished.
This status quo is shameful and cannot continue.
Open letter to the international community
Together with 412 humanitarian organisations, Cordaid signed an open letter which appeals to the member states of the General Assembly of the United Nations and the international community to:
1. End attacks on civilians and take active steps to protect them – and the critical civilian infrastructure they rely on.
2. Protect all aid workers, including local and national actors, and their premises and assets and facilitate their work, as called for in UN Security Council Resolution 2730 adopted this May.
3. Hold perpetrators to account. Those who commit violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) cannot go unpunished.