A record number of humanitarian workers were killed last year. My staff’s red uniforms should have protected them. Instead they became their death shrouds
- Jagan Chapagain is secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
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Which was most horrific? The agonising week-long wait – silence after our colleagues went missing, as we suspected the worst but hoped for something different? Or the confirmation, seven days later, that bodies had been found? Or, since, the ghastly details of how they were found, and killed?
Their ambulances were crushed and partly buried. Nearby were their bodies – also buried, en masse, in the sand. Our dead colleagues were still wearing their Red Crescent vests. In life, those uniforms signalled their status as humanitarian workers; they should have protected them. Instead, in death, those red vests became their shrouds.
Jagan Chapagain is secretary general of the IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies)
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