19 August 2025
Silence is complicity
Stand up, speak out, protect the humanitarian space
Amman, 19 August 2025
One year ago, we called on those in power to end attacks against humanitarian workers and aid operations. Release all those arbitrarily detained. Safeguard the humanitarian space in the Middle East. That call remains unanswered.
Across the region, civilians, including humanitarian workers, have already endured an unbearable toll of decades of conflict and protracted crises. They are being killed, injured, and attacked in shocking numbers. Violations of international humanitarian law are at an unprecedented level, and impunity has become the norm.
The world is failing humanitarian workers and the people they serve. Since August 2024, at least 446 aid workers were killed, wounded, kidnapped or detained in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. This brings the total number since August 2023 to at least 841 affected workers, including 584 killed, 215 wounded, 38 detained, and 4 kidnapped.
The assault on humanitarian space now includes moves to dismantle multilateral norms, undermine UN‑mandated bodies, and defund institutions tasked with protection and justice.
Even speaking out has become a liability, risking humanitarian access and triggering political retaliation.
Justice has failed for serious violations, whether committed by the same actors or by others emboldened by their impunity. The climate of permissiveness is politically indefensible and morally intolerable. There can be no exceptions to the rules of war. All parties must comply with international humanitarian law and be held accountable.
When we protect humanitarian workers, we are not only protecting the people they serve in the Middle East. We are protecting civilians everywhere, the international system, and the principles that underpin our collective dignity and humanity.
Humanitarians are not giving up, neither should the world.
This World Humanitarian Day, we renew our call—louder, sharper, uncompromising: Respect international humanitarian and human rights laws. Protect those who protect humanity. End impunity or be complicit. The world is watching. #ActForHumanity. Now.
Signatories
- Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and Officer-In-Charge Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
- Mr. Adam Abdelmoula, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria
- Mr. Julien Harneis, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen
- Mr. Imran Riza, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon
For more information:
Ghalia Seifo, OCHA Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa
+962 79 897 4125 | seifo@un.org
Ilona Gaudin-Kassissieh, OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)
+972 54 33 11 835 | gaudin2@un.org
Sevim Turkmani, OCHA Syria
+963 989 300 216 | sevim.turkmani@un.org
Ibrahim Haddad, OCHA Yemen
+ 967 712 220 822 | +967 780 480 546 | haddad17@un.org
Romain Assaad, OCHA Lebanon
+961 70 495 447 | romain.assaad@un.org
Document Type: Statement
Document Sources: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the OPT, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO)
Subject: Armed conflict, Casualties, Gaza Strip, Human rights and international humanitarian law, detainees
Publication Date: 19/08/2025
URL source: https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/joint-statement-un-resident-and-humanitarian-coordinators-occupied-palestinian-territory-opt-syria-yemen-and-lebanon-19-august-2025-enar