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Aid Workers Mapped: The Rise of Violence Against Aid Workers

The US Department of State compiled a map showing the location and number of aid worker victims since 2001. It is careful to mark the important point that the majority of these workers are national staff members. When the headlines report kidnapped or killed staff they often lead with the Westerners. That makes sense given that these headlines are coming from western media outlets appealing to a western audience.

What is disconcerting is to see the steady rise in the number of victims from 90 in 2001 to 308 in 2011. Part of this is attributable to the war in Afghanistan and the genocide and ensuing humanitarian crisis in Darfur.  Regardless, it is a depressing trend to observe.

Check out the map for more:

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About Author

Tom Murphy

Tom Murphy is a New Hampshire-based reporter for Humanosphere. Before joining Humanosphere, Tom founded and edited the aid blog A View From the Cave. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy, the Huffington Post, the Guardian, GlobalPost and Christian Science Monitor. He tweets at @viewfromthecave. Contact him at tmurphy[at]humanosphere.org.