To protect humanitarians is to protect communities: World Humanitarian Day 2025

Bargi Gul, a physiotherapist in Kabul, Afghanistan

Tweet: https://twitter.com/ICRC/status/1956611940458828121

When I wake up every morning, I am filled with strong determination and a clear aim to help the needy and the sick who are waiting to benefit from our assistance. 

During difficult times, I reflect more on my professional value and strive to provide useful, accurate services to those in need, a practice that gives me strength in hard days. 

My message to everyone in the world who watching and listening is this: we must extend a helping hand to those in need, regardless of their ethnicity, race, or country of origin.

Vadym Grebniev, Economic Security Generalist, ICRC, Odesa, Ukraine

Tweet: https://twitter.com/ICRC/status/1956266183209910694

When I see that people who have received assistance from us improve their quality of life, it inspires me to keep going.

Working at the International Committee of the Red Cross, I have repeatedly seen how people who received our assistance improved their food production and earned income. Overall, helping such people is my main driving force and motivation to return to my work every day.

The most difficult part of our work is stepping back... from helping people. Once, we planned to assist people in remote villages near the front line with fuel briquettes, but amid an escalation of shelling and the deaths of our colleagues during a similar trip to Donbas, we had to reconsider our mission, cancel the briquette deliveries, and replace them with cash assistance.

This is always the hardest part, as we know people are counting on us. 

If attacks on humanitarian workers continue, entire communities will be left without the possibility of receiving assistance in the form that suits them best. This lifeline may be cut, people will stop receiving assistance, and their already difficult lives will become even harder. These attacks on humanitarian workers are not only attacks on us; they are attacks on the hope of people who need that hope the most. 

The impact on our safe ability to help these people is a threat to losing hope for those who need it the most.

Aissata Toure, Projet hospital Mopti, Mali 

Tweet: https://twitter.com/ICRC/status/1957336696942412097

What motivates me to come to work every day is the fact that I’m part of the ICRC’s major humanitarian efforts in Mali, and knowing that through my work and my contribution, lives are being saved.

The biggest challenge in a typical workday is anticipating orders. To prevent stock shortages of supplies and to prepare for mass influxes.

During emergencies, the main challenge is ensuring we have the necessary supplies or medications to treat the patients we receive at the hospital.

The message I want to share with the world today is to tell everyone that no matter what role we hold, we each contribute on our own scale to the broader humanitarian effort—and we should be proud of that.

Gegham Petrosyan, Health Programme Manager, Armenia

Tweet: https://twitter.com/ICRC/status/1957004543784263983

For over two decades I’ve been working in places where conflict has disrupted life lines and health systems. I’ve been in environments where attacks on humanitarian workers cut directly into the life line that we were trying to maintain. 

I’ve seen hospitals coping with an influx of wounded people, and I have also seen hospital windows shattered by shelling. But every day I faced these risks because I strongly believe that even a small act of help has a multiplying effect.

Losing colleagues along the way was deeply painful, and I believe that it can never be accepted as “normal”. 

We cannot prevent wars and conflicts, but we should ensure humanitarian space so that aid can reach those who need it most.