By: Manuel Galvis Martinez, Leader of the International Humanitarian Law thematic area and ICMD Coordinator
The op-ed below has also been published at Reliefweb.
In 2008 the UNGA decided August 19th would be known as ‘World Humanitarian Day’.[1] The date was chosen in remembrance of the 2003 Canal Hotel incident where a suicide car bomb went off in Baghdad killing 23 people at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (including its highest ranking member, Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Special Representative for Iraq). Unfortunately, it was not the first time something like that had happened, nor the last. AWSD has collected data regarding attacks on humanitarians since 1997.[2] The numbers of humanitarians killed has grown steadily from the initial 40 counted in 1997, doubling to 87 in 2003, reaching a new peak of 127 in 2008, and surpassing the 100 mark every single year since 2013. However, the last couple of years the situation has worsen. AWSD saw the 200 mark broken for the first time in 2023 with 293 humanitarians killed, and OCHA claims that 2024 left 344 humanitarian workers killed.[3] The numbers for 2025 are not yet in, but it doesn’t seem to be improving as it has become fairly common to see regular public announcements of humanitarian organizations mourning and denouncing the killings of their workers throughout social media.
As if this wasn’t enough, there are numerous other problems regarding humanitarian efforts that make the situation even more worrisome. Apart from the troublesome instances of injuries, kidnappings and diminished mental health of humanitarian workers,[4] it is now obvious that the whole sector is at risk. Several states have decided to unilaterally cut funds severely affecting the capacity of humanitarian organizations to help those in need.[5] Other States have decided to openly impede humanitarian efforts by banning experienced and impartial humanitarian organizations from areas in need (or seeking to replace them with improvised schemes of their own), blocking passage of aid, and even openly attacking humanitarian vehicles and installations.[6] Finally, even the body of laws that aim to regulate war and provide some guarantees of basic humanity for those affected by war (i.e. Humanitarian Law) is under attack. There seems to be a general sense of disenchantment arising from the lack of compliance with IHL shown by many actors that, for some lead to questioning the entire viability of this area of law,[7] while others have initiated concrete and determined steps to reinstate and defend its value.[8] In sum, humanitarianism as we know it is under challenge at all fronts.
This year’s World Humanitarian Day is not another a meaningless ‘special day’ like Second Christmas in Australia or Cinnamon Bun day in Sweden. 19th of August 2025 represents a very important opportunity to realize that humanitarianism today is not perfect by any measurement, but it is a tremendous landmark of humanity. In 2025 we still see the hellish images that Henri Dunant (founder of the ICRC) must have witnessed in Solferino in 1859, the difference is that now we have manage to built an entire movement seeking to efficiently help those affected and impose limits to those causing suffering in wartime. It is in our own interest to defend, preserve and enforce this system. The alternative is to go back to the old ways of all-out-war where fighters have no limits, where civilians have no rights, and where humanity is lost in the process.
The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law believes in the importance of humanitarianism and is committed to defending its value and place in the international community. Our humble academic contribution through the ICMD Initiative seeks to fill a void in the system: monitoring compliance. We seek to use the latest technologies to create a state-of-the-art database and a network of contributors that can efficiently identify incidents relevant for IHL, verify their reliability, flag them, analyze them and present them in the form of data. Clear and global data regarding IHL can help us to identify the most difficult areas in this field, to measure the effects of capacity building within armed groups, to tailor responses effectively, design better policies, and generally to create a record of conduct in armed conflicts for future compliance and accountability efforts by relevant authorities and generations. This fairly simple task has proven a great challenge in practice. However, we are confident that today, more than ever, there are actors that understand the importance of strengthening humanitarianism and the rule of law in armed conflicts and will support this innovative effort to understand compliance in practice and seek a more humane world even in times of armed conflict.
If you are interested in learning more about this project, visit www.ICMD.se
[1] UNGA res 63/139. Available at: https://docs.un.org/en/A/RES/63/139
[2] Aid Workers Security Database, Major attacks on aid workers: Summary statistics. Last updated December 2024. Available at: https://www.aidworkersecurity.org/incidents/report
[3] OCHA, Annual report 2024. Available at: https://www.unocha.org/ocha-annual-report
[4] See: https://protecthumanitarians.org/en/
[5] Julia Streets and Elias Sagmeister, ‘A Humanitarian Reset has Started: It’s time to act on what we already know’, (Global Public Policy Institute, 25 June 2025), available at: https://gppi.net/2025/06/25/a-humanitarian-reset-has-started-its-time-to-act-on-what-we-already-know
[6] UNSC press release ‘‘Shocking Increase’ in Denial of Access to Life-Saving Humanitarian Aid for Children in Conflict Zones Worldwide, Security Council Hears, as Delegates Discuss Solutions’ Available at: https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15651.doc.htm
[7] Lieber Institute, Articles of War, Nilanthan Niruthan ‘Requiem for IHL: A Geopolitical Perspective’, available at: https://lieber.westpoint.edu/requiem-ihl-geopolitical-perspective/
[8] ICRC Global Initiative. Available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/global-initiative-international-humanitarian-law