Humanitarian work should never be a death sentence - yet for many it increasingly is

Geneva, 5 May 2026 - As the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) marks the 107th anniversary of its founding on 5 May and prepares for World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day on 8 May, we must confront a stark reality. Humanitarian work has become increasingly deadly, and it is local humanitarian personnel who are paying the heaviest price.Most recently, the conflict in the Middle East has taken an enormous toll on our colleagues. Six volunteers, including four from the Iranian Red Crescent and two from the Lebanese Red Cross, were killed and many more injured while trying to help others.It is the latest example of a deadly trend that is increasingly putting humanitarian personnel – and particularly local humanitarians - in harm’s way.The numbers tell a clear story (IFRC network figures):Thirteen volunteers and staff from National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have lost their lives in the first four months of 2026 while carrying out their humanitarian work. Nine of them were killed in violent attacks and four died in accidents while on duty, while many others have faced attacks, injuries and threats.Four members of the Iranian Red Crescent and two volunteers from the Lebanese Red Cross were killed while carrying out their humanitarian duties since the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East in 2026.From 2023 to today, almost 100 volunteers and staff from the IFRC network have died or been killed while serving their communities. This is part of a broader global trend, with 2024 marking the deadliest year on record for humanitarians worldwide.For context, during the previous five years (2018-2022 inclusive), over 30 volunteers and staff from the IFRC network died in the line of duty - around half of them in violent attacks.Prior to 2018, only one other year was comparable - 2017 – which saw one of the single most deadly attacks against our staff and volunteers, when 10 members of the Central African Republic Red Cross were killed on duty. That same year, a total of 32 volunteers and staff were killed by violence and 5 died in accidents.Since 2023, three National Red Crescent Societies have been particularly hard hit, accounting for more than 70 per cent of deaths in the IFRC network. The Sudanese Red Crescent Society has lost 23 volunteers and staff, the Palestine Red Crescent Society 32, and the Iranian Red Crescent Society 15.Figures for deaths of humanitarian personnel killed while on duty from the IFRC network also show that the proportion of those killed in violent versus non-violent incidents has also increased.In 2023, 65% of volunteers and staff from National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies killed in the line of duty, were killed in violent incidents.In 2024, this figure jumped to 92%.In 2025, the figure was 88%So far in 2026, 69% of the IFRC network’s humanitarian personnel killed in the line of duty have died in violent incidents.Lastly, it is overwhelmingly local humanitarian personnel who are paying the heaviest price. Global data from the Aid Worker Security Database (which tracks the violent deaths of all humanitarian personnel globally), shows that in 2025, of the 332 humanitarians who were killed in violent incidents worldwide, 99 percent were local personnel.The data is clear. This is not a one-off spike caused by a single incident or context, but a dangerous trend that threatens the security of humanitarian workers. It also points to a changing risk environment, with an increasingly complex range of actors involved in violence against humanitarian personnel.Each of these numbers tells a story of acceleration; inequality; consequences for humanitarian operations; lack of accountability.International humanitarian law is clear. Humanitarian personnel, facilities and assets must be respected and protected. The emblems of the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Crystal are symbols of protection. Attacks on humanitarian personnel are unacceptable, and they must not be allowed to become normalised.The international community must take concrete steps to respect and protect humanitarian personnel and ensure their safe and unimpeded access. States must use their influence to ensure respect for international humanitarian law.At the same time, more must be done to support the safety and wellbeing of humanitarian workers, particularly local staff and volunteers. This includes investment in training, protective equipment, insurance, and support for them and their families.We call for concrete steps to support measures such as the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, together with our 191 National Societies and 17 million volunteers, stands ready to work with governments, the United Nations, and all partners to turn this Declaration into concrete action for real and lasting protection.It is time this message was heard and acted on. It is time to stop the cycle of violence.For more information or to request an interview, please contact:[email protected] Geneva:Tommaso Della Longa, +41 79 708 4367 Scott Craig, +41 76 370 3575

Myanmar Red Cross Society

Japanese Red Cross Society

World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day 2026: United in Humanity. Volunteers at the heart of communities in Cameroon, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe.

Chief of Staff and Under Secretary General for People and Strategy

Christopher Rassi, based in Geneva, Switzerland, serves as IFRC Chief of Staff and Under Secretary General, People and Strategy. He ensures the Secretary General can effectively discharge his statutory duties and key responsibilities at all times, supporting the Secretary General in the management of the organization. He also leads the organization’s areas of work related to People and Strategy, including overseeing the Executive Office, Ethical Practices, Human Resources Management, Strategic Planning and Global Security. He is the IFRC’s designated Safeguarding Champion. Christopher serves on the Senior Leadership Team and Global Leadership Team.Christopher has worked in various roles with the IFRC in different locations, most recently in Southeast Asia as Head of Delegation based in Bangkok, Thailand and as the IFRC’s Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific. He led major operational responses in the region, including during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout his time with the IFRC, Christopher has focused on transforming National Societies to be strong local actors and promoting localization and accountability in the humanitarian system.Before joining the IFRC, Christopher practiced as a lawyer within the United Nations and in private practice, including at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and with the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in The Hague, Netherlands and Arusha, Tanzania. He was also a foreign law clerk at the Constitutional Court of South Africa in Johannesburg.Christopher is a frequent speaker and lecturer at global events and universities around the world. He serves on several boards, including the Board of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, the Board of the Jean-Pictet Competition in International Humanitarian Law, and the Dean’s Cabinet for Global Legal Studies at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization

Nena Stoiljkovic leads a division in IFRC that focuses on Humanitarian Diplomacy and Communications, Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization, Digital Transformation, and Global Humanitarian Services and Supply Chain Management.Collectively, this division works to build and maintain strong, accountable and respectful partnerships, ensuring that IFRC and its member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have the resources, influence, profile and fit for purpose systems needed to remain trusted partners of choice for communities that they serve.Prior to joining the IFRC, Nena worked in the World Bank Group on global development issues such as climate change, gender, and fragile and conflict-affected situations for more than 25 years. This includes roles as Vice President for the World Bank’s Global Practices, Vice President of International Finance Corporation’s Operations and Partnerships and Blended Finance.At the World Bank Group Nena promoted blended finance innovations, including efforts to build a new development finance architecture by working closely with other financial institutions, governments and the private sector. She helped shape the World Bank Group strategy, working with the International Development Association (IDA) on a pioneering 2 billion US dollar private sector window in IDA18 to catalyze greater private investment in low-income and conflict-affected countries.

President

At the IFRC, Forbes most recently served as chairman of the organization's Audit and Risk Commission. Under her leadership, the commission has increased transparency and accountability to deliver life-saving assistance more efficiently around the world. Kate’s Red Cross journey began in 1981 at her local American Red Cross Chapter in Phoenix, Arizona. She worked to combat a surge of home fires impacting Indigenous communities, prevent drownings across the region and provide access to health services through special transportation programs. At local and regional levels, she improved safety and well-being through effective community engagement. Kate then served as the chairman of the local board of directors, regional chapter services board chair and then national chair of chapter services. In 2000, Kate assumed the role of Vice-Chairman of the American Red Cross Board of Governors and then the National Chairman of Volunteers. In these roles, she mobilized more than a million volunteers to deliver assistance, connect with local communities and provide training in their local communities. In her professional life, Kate was most recently the Chief Financial Officer of Electric Applications Incorporated. With more than four decades of experience as a CFO, auditor and controller, she has held executive positions providing vision and inspiration to diverse groups. She specializes in managing complex, rapidly changing financial, utility and green technology businesses with geographically diverse multimillion-dollar operations, under strict financial compliance regulations. In a volunteer capacity, Kate’s served as Chairman of the American Lung Association, a member of the Arizona State University Foundation Board of Directors, Chairman of the PSI Audit Committee, and on a variety of local and national boards. Kate is the recipient of numerous awards, including the following: theHarriman Award, the American Red Cross premier award for outstanding volunteer service; Deborah Karr King Award Central Arizona Chapter, Red Cross Award for Outstanding Humanitarian Service; the Athena Award, the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Award for Outstanding Business Woman; Public Service Award American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Award for Public Service; and the Arizona State Society of Certified Public Accountants Award for Service to the Society.

Secretary General

Jagan has extensive experience in leading effective and principled humanitarian response around the world and has dedicated his life to helping empower local communities. He brings decades of experience in building and leading inclusive teams and forging trustful partnerships to address global challenges, ranging from climate to health, and from migration to protection, gender, and inclusion. He has also championed policies and programmes that promote youth engagement and volunteering, and that strengthen localization and accountability in humanitarian action. He began his humanitarian journey as a youth volunteer with the Nepal Red Cross and has extensive experience in, and broad knowledge of, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Prior to being appointed Secretary General, he served as Under Secretary General for Programmes and Operations at the IFRC. He was also previously Chief of Staff and Regional Director for Asia Pacific, where he provided leadership during large-scale humanitarian crises and built resilient communities alongside National Societies and other partners. An engineer by training, Jagan holds certificates in Leadership and Turnaround Management,Emerging Social Sector Leadership, and High Performance Boards. A national of Nepal, he is fluent in Nepalese, English and Hindi and has basic knowledge of Urdu and Russian.

Under Secretary General for National Society Development and Coordination

Xavier Castellanos Mosquera has more than three decades experience in National Society development, resilience building and emergency humanitarian operations at national, regional and global levels. He has served the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in various capacities since 1981, when he started as a volunteer with the National Society of Ecuador. He joined the IFRC in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch in Central America. Prior to his appointment as Under Secretary General, Xavier served as Regional Director for Asia Pacific. In this role, he provided strategic and operational leadership on disaster preparedness and response to COVID-19, tsunamis and earthquakes and other health and disaster-related emergencies. He has also previously served as Regional Director for the Americas, along with various other leadership positions across the Movement.

Director of the Office of Internal Audit and Investigations

Kris Wallace was appointed Director of the Office of Internal Audit and Investigations in May 2021, having previously worked as the IFRC’s Head of Internal Audit. Before joining the IFRC, Kris spent the past decade working in audit and investigation leadership roles within the UK Government—including serving as Deputy Head of Audit and Investigations for the former UK Department for International Development (DFID). During his career, Kris has led audits and investigations in more than 50 countries around the world, including in conflict-affected countries such as Sudan and Somalia. He has extensive experience in leading high-profile and media-sensitive investigations and led the development and implementation of DFID’s Safeguarding Investigation Team. Kris is a longstanding member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (CMIIA). He has a postgraduate Diploma in Audit and Consultancy as well as a master’s degree in Counter Fraud and Corruption Studies.

Fundamental Principles

The Fundamental Principlesexpress the values and practices of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. They have served as both a guide for action and a common identity for our Movement for over 50 years, and are written in the Statutes of the Movement.

World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day 2026: United in Humanity. No Matter Where, No Matter When

IFRC strengthens disaster readiness across Asia Pacific, delivering better value from humanitarian investment

Kuala Lumpur / Geneva, 7 May 2026 — As humanitarian needs grow faster than available resources, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is strengthening disaster preparedness across Asia Pacific to ensure earlier action, faster response, and better use of humanitarian funding.Between July 2025 and April 2026, the “Becoming Disaster Ready” Asia Pacific National Society Preparedness and Readiness Programme accelerated the shift from reactive crisis response to a preparedness-led, regionally coordinated readiness system. The programme aligns with the Asia Pacific National Society Preparedness (NSP) Strategic Plan 2025–2028 and supports National Societies to anticipate risks, mobilise faster, and respond at scale when disasters strike.“Every Swiss franc invested in preparedness is a choice to save more lives with fewer resources,” said Alexander Matheou, IFRC Regional Director for Asia Pacific. “By strengthening systems, coordination and readiness before disasters strike, National Societies are able to respond faster, avoid costly delays, and scale up effectively when needs are highest. In an era of growing risks and constrained humanitarian funding, preparedness is one of the most responsible and impactful investments we can make.”Stronger systems, lower response costsA central achievement of the programme has been the establishment of a regional management and coordination structure for preparedness, bringing IFRC and Partner National Societies together through an Asia Pacific NSP Core Working Group. The structure improves alignment of technical support, reduces duplication, and lays the foundation for a future Asia Pacific Preparedness Hub to enable peer-to-peer exchange and adaptation of preparedness tools across contexts.In 2025, IFRC also completed a regionwide capacity mapping of preparedness and response assets—including Emergency Operations Centres, National Disaster Response Teams, surge capacity and Emergency Response Units. Combined with a donor support mapping, this provides a clear evidence base for directing investments where they deliver the greatest preparedness return, helping ensure funding is used strategically and efficiently.Readiness that delivers faster resultsOperational readiness has been strengthened through the Surge Ready tool, developed in Asia Pacific and now adopted globally. The tool provides a common framework to assess and improve emergency readiness across National Societies, Emergency Response Units and IFRC delegations, in line with minimum quality and safeguarding standards approved in 2025. Better surge readiness translates into faster deployment, improved coordination, and reduced delays during emergencies.The region has also advanced Emergency Response Unit readiness, with several National Societies strengthening certification and peer‑to‑peer cooperation, contributing to both regional and global surge capacity. In Southeast Asia, discussions to establish a regional WASH Emergency Response Unit would further increase collective readiness and reduce reliance on ad‑hoc arrangements during major crises.Preparedness beyond response assetsInvestments under the programme extend beyond hardware and teams. National Societies have strengthened preparedness across health and pandemic readiness, WASH, anticipatory action, cash and voucher assistance preparedness, disaster law and auxiliary role, logistics, protection, gender and inclusion, and community engagement and accountability - all critical enablers of effective, accountable response.Capacity data shows that while most National Societies are operationally ready to respond, preparedness remains uneven in areas such as contingency planning, early action and enabling systems. Addressing these gaps before disasters strike reduces operational risk and helps avoid higher response costs later.Tracking impact and guiding future investmentProgramme impact is measured through annual capacity mapping and PER cycle progress, consolidated in a regional dashboard that tracks year‑on‑year maturity gains and remaining gaps. This enables IFRC and partners to demonstrate results, prioritise investment and maximise preparedness outcomes.By strengthening readiness before crises occur, IFRC’s Asia Pacific preparedness investments are delivering greater humanitarian impact per franc invested, helping National Societies respond faster, better coordinated and at scale in an increasingly complex risk environment.For more information or to request an interview, please contact: [email protected] In Kuala Lumpur: Afrhill Rances, +60 19 271 3641 In Geneva: Scott Craig, +41 76 370 3575About IFRC       IFRC is the world’s largest humanitarian network, comprising 191 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies working to save lives and promote dignity around the world.  ifrc.org | X (Formerly Twitter) | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | Threads | LinkedIn 

Cuba: Hurricane Melissa

Hurricane Melissa, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Caribbean, has devastated eastern Cuba with torrential rains, massive flooding and winds up to 295 km/h. Homes have collapsed, communities are isolated, and hundreds of thousands have lost access to safe water and electricity. Meanwhile, an ongoing arbovirus outbreak worsens health risks. The Cuban Red Cross is providing emergency shelter, safe water, health and psychosocial support, while also working to prevent the spread of infectious diseases spread. Urgent help is needed to reach more families. Donate now to help the Cuban Red Cross provide life-saving assistance.

Middle East and North Africa Regional Office

The IFRC’s Middle East and North Africa regional office works in support of 17 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the region. Through its country cluster support teams and country offices, it provides coordination, financial and technical support for disaster operations and longer-term development programmes throughout the region. View current IFRC network country plans for MENA here.