This Sunday, gunmen on motorcycles killed eight people including 6 young French aid workers as they visited a part of Niger popular with tourists for its wildlife. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, in her capacity as President of the Luxembourg Red Cross, took part in the campaign #NotATarget: "Protect Aid Workers.". Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg recalled that workers of humanitarian organizations must be protected in conflict zones.
Individuals and news organizations started using the hashtag #NotATarget several years ago. Unicef, the International Red Cross, and Save the Children used it to highlight violations of the non-combatant international laws. It serves as a reminder to humanitarian workers and combatants in conflict zones, which highlights that humanitarian workers are entirely neutral in whatever conflict may be present in their working area.
It is of course important to protect all people from harm, especially civilians and aid workers. But it is naive to think that aid workers are always neutral. Many times humanitarian organizations turned out to be not-so-charitable, and have participated in the conflict under the disguise of humanitarian work.
ReplyDeleteRather than to say that aidworkers are not a target (by that implying that someone else should be the target), it´s better to advocate for peace altogether.
Also, I struggle to believe that the van in the picture has been in real combat zones. It looks very "made-up", and even it is real - who would ship it to Luxemburg to display??
Worthy cause. Like her hair better here rather than the slicked back look she has had recently
ReplyDeleteA terrible tragic story. I am glad she is lending her support.
ReplyDeleteAgree, she is lightning up, good course.
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