The massacre of six World Vision staff in Pakistan last week is another grim reminder of the appalling dangers humanitarian workers are being exposed to in the field.
These workers were deliberately targeted – and are yet another statistic in an alarming escalation in attacks on aid workers in the developing world since 2006.
The year 2008 was the worst in 12 years, with 260 humanitarian aid workers killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks.
Aid workers are the softest of targets, and aid gencies do not have the resources to cope with the heightened security threat alone. So it is high time for the international community to face its responsibilities. The world can no longer avoid action.
We should not only praise the work of aid staff who sacrifice so much to care for others, we must also protect them.
John O’Shea
Goal
Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin
Upcoming events
Residents against Racism are staging a demonstration march next Tuesday 30 March, congregating outside the GPO on Dublin's O'Connell Street at 12.30pm. The march is in protest at ongoing deportations of parents and spouses of Irish citizens.
