It's a sad world

When you do what I do for a living, it’s sometimes difficult to feel good about the world, but for the most part I manage it. I guess I tend to be a pretty hopeful person overall. But on days like today, it’s damn tough.

This morning I saw on the BBC that insurgents stormed the offices of the Iraqi Red Crescent in Baghdad and took more than 20 aid workers hostage. This sort of thing isn’t new in Baghdad – who could forget the bombings of the UN and ICRC compounds in 2003, or the murder of the local head of CARE – but it comes hard on the heels of a number of other attacks against humanitarian workers elsewhere. The most vicious one this year was the massacre of 17 Action Contre la Faim workers in Sri Lanka, but dozens of aid workers have died all over the globe in the service of humankind.

Obviously I’m biased, but I think takes the lowest form of life imaginable to deliberately target aid workers, and I dearly hope that a separate ring of hell is reserved for those who do it. Dying in the line of duty is one thing; aid workers, like cops and soldiers, fully appreciate that death is a hazard of their trade. But marking someone for death not only in spite of, but BECAUSE of their commitment to preserve the life and dignity of others in a neutral, impartial and non-violent way is despicable beyond description.

Attacking aid workers used to be taboo. Hell, the red cross is actually an international legal symbol prohibiting violence -- it's written into the Geneva Conventions themselves. Attacking humanitarian workers is a war crime under international law. Not so long ago, that used to be largely respected, even in the nastiest wars. Now it's almost as good as a target on your back. The colleague of mine who was shot in Abeche, where I stayed in Chad, was targeted for her vehicle but shot for no reason at all. The kid with the gun didn't even give her the option of getting out of the car -- he just tapped on the window with the muzzle of his AK and fired. A year ago, our staff in Afghanistan were given the option of having living quarters built into the office compound, and understandably declined. After all, they spend enough time in each other's faces. But this year, they are so shit scared even to travel in armed convoys back and forth between guest house compound and office compound, that they have demanded to live within the office or they will quit.

It's an incredibly sad testimonial to our times.