Protecting humanitarians reaching the hardest to reach in CAR
Each year, World Humanitarian Day highlights the fact that humanitarians should not be a target in the places they work. In the Central African Republic, despite challenges, they are not giving up.
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The two-vehicle UNICEF convoy, escorted by UN peacekeepers, slows down as it approaches a bridge on the road from Bocaranga to Koui, in the north-east of the Central African Republic. Landmine specialists jump out of the vehicle in front and carefully check the ground around the bridge with minesweepers. After a few minutes, the convoy resumes its journey to its destination.
Under safety protocols, when humanitarian workers travel along this road and many others in CAR, an escort is mandatory. Additionally, an anti-landmine protocol is observed. It is not just a formality. Hardly one month after that UNICEF mission, on 24 July, a mine was discovered at the village Manga, 27 kilometres from Bozoum in the same prefecture.
"You must take security risks seriously. I always say to my colleagues, loud and clear, that we must protect themselves if we are to help others."
Gertrude remembers how, a few years ago, she took part in a field mission to vaccinate children in villages in the Basse Kotto prefecture: "On the road between Alindao and Bokolobo, we were stopped by an armed group. I explained the purpose of our work to them, but they refused to let us pass. The situation was very tense. Calmly, I asked to speak to their leader, and after some negotiations, he finally agreed to let us go."
Not all situations of risk end so well. The year 2024 was the deadliest year ever globally for humanitarian workers, with 377 violent deaths in 20 countries, a hundred more than in 2023. Joyce Msuya, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs, who gave these figures to the Security Council on 2 April 2025, says there are plenty of national laws and international conventions to protect humanitarian work, “but what is lacking is the political will to comply with them.”
A difficult environment for humanitarian workers
The increasing attacks on humanitarian workers worldwide is again highlighted in this year's marking of World Humanitarian Day this 19 August. That date was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2008 to coincide with the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq.
The spike in attacks against aid workers is taking place against a backdrop of an increase of the suffering of civilian populations in many of the world’s crisis spots, as well as the non-compliance with international humanitarian law.
Despite some improvements in recent years, the Central African Republic - where 38 per cent of the population is in need of humanitarian aid - remains a difficult operating environment. In 2024, according to data from OCHA, 142 security incidents affected humanitarian workers in CAR, resulting in four injuries. By 31 May 2025, humanitarian workers had already been the target of 48 incidents, including one death.
United Nations figures show that, when humanitarian workers come under attack, 95 per cent of the time those killed are local workers. Ms Msuya qualified them as “the cornerstone of relief efforts, without whom the humanitarian response would collapse.” Unfortunately, when local aid workers are killed, they rarely make headlines.
Abdoulaye Outmane, head of the national NGO Esperance, a partner of UNICEF in child protection projects, recalls how the premises of their organization in Bria were looted and damaged by armed men in 2017, after a heavy exchange of gunfire in Bria. “During the confrontation, we were 16 people inside, lying down. One of our employees was killed,” he says.
Mr Outmane is one of the humanitarian workers who suffered an attack last year in CAR. It happened on 12 September 2024 as he was travelling by motorcycle with a colleague between Bossangoa and Nana-Bakassa on a humanitarian mission. “After 20 kilometres, four men holding guns jumped out and brought us to a halt. They took us to the bush, where we were beaten, threatened and robbed of all our valuables. We tried to stay calm, but they held us captive for five hours. In the end, we were released, and we walked for several hours before we found a village where people helped us.”
Despite that, humanitarian workers don’t give up. “Yes, there are many difficulties, but every time I see a child in need of help, I get the strength that I need to keep going,” he concludes.
