THEMATIC AREA
Humanitarian access and security
Working in the most complex humanitarian crises is increasingly dangerous. This section addresses the threats to humanitarian action, including attacks on staff and the obstacles that shrink humanitarian space. It also covers the strategies organisations use to protect their teams and their access to the population.
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What threatens the safety of aid workers and access to the population?
Humanitarian action depends, to a large extent, on organisations being able to safely reach people in need and on the population being able to access assistance. This, however, becomes difficult when staff work under threat or in highly volatile contexts.
Attacks on aid and health workers have reached record highs, while humanitarian space is shrinking due to the politicisation and instrumentalisation of aid, sanctions, counter-terrorism measures and administrative barriers. In response, organisations deploy security strategies while also documenting attacks and advocating for unconditional access to the people who need humanitarian action.
- Humanitarian space is the physical and symbolic environment in which humanitarian actors can operate safely and without impediment in order to uphold humanitarian principles.
- Humanitarian space is continuously threatened by attacks on humanitarian staff, the politicisation and instrumentalisation of aid, international sanctions and counter-terrorism measures, and legal and bureaucratic restrictions that limit access to affected populations.
- Protecting humanitarian space requires upholding the principles of neutrality and independence, engaging in humanitarian diplomacy and advocacy, coordinating among actors, and increasingly, supporting the leadership of local actors in access negotiation.
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- Attacks on aid workers have reached record highs. In 2025 there were more than 700 incidents affecting nearly 1,200 people, most of them national staff. Increasingly, the perpetrator is a state actor.
- Health workers face a specific and rising form of violence, with its own logic: denying care to the enemy, punishing medical impartiality or depriving entire populations of the right to health.
- Almost a decade after UN Security Council Resolution 2286, the political will is still lacking to ensure accountability and end impunity for these attacks.
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- More than 150 humanitarian workers are killed every year as a result of violent attacks, and a further 130 are kidnapped. The problem worsens year on year, shrinking the available humanitarian space.
- The acceptance strategy is based on proactively building the trust and support of local communities and their authorities. It is the essential approach, but it is not always sufficient on its own.
- The protection strategy seeks to reduce vulnerability through equipment measures, internal procedures and coordination with other actors.
- The deterrence strategy, which includes armed escorts or diplomatic pressure, is reserved as a last resort. It adds risks of its own and can seriously undermine community acceptance.
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