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United Nations memorializes 168 staff killed in 2024; Secretary‑General urges 'full accountability' for Gaza deaths
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Summary
At a memorial service at U.N. headquarters, leadership honored 168 personnel who died in 2024, noted heavy losses in Gaza including 125 UNRWA staff, and called for greater protections for personnel and accountability for the killings.
The United Nations held a memorial ceremony at U.N. headquarters to honor 168 women and men who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2024, and the Secretary‑General called for "full accountability" for those killed in Gaza, where U.N. officials said the bulk of losses occurred.
The Secretary‑General said the fallen "embodied the very essence of our mission," listing that the victims came from 31 nationalities and served as teachers, engineers, doctors, administrators, military, police, humanitarian workers, peacekeepers and others. "We gather to pay tribute to 168 women and men who lost their lives in 2024 in the line of duty," the Secretary‑General said.
The ceremony noted particularly heavy losses in Gaza: U.N. speakers said 126 colleagues were killed there in 2024, and that 125 of those were personnel of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The Secretary‑General reiterated a call "for full accountability." He also urged support for families and said the U.N. must work to improve "the safety and well‑being of our staff."
At the request of UNRWA, the service used full names for 43 UNRWA staff members; the remaining 82 UNRWA personnel were commemorated by professional title only because, the ceremony said, UNRWA sought family consent for name publication and in many cases families could not be reached due to displacement or their own deaths.
The president of the United Nations staff union said the union will "persist and insist until every duty station is a place of dignity, safety, and solidarity," and called on the organization to ensure staff serving "under the blue flag" receive "full protection, support, and respect." The union president also urged that honoring the dead be followed by action to protect personnel.
Organizers lit a candle representing an eternal flame and read the names and professional titles of the colleagues who died. Speakers asked attendees to observe a minute of silence and requested that no photographs be taken during that minute.
The service listed the United Nations agencies represented among the fallen, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the World Food Programme (WFP). No formal policy measures or votes were proposed or taken during the memorial.
The memorial closed after remarks, the reading of names and the departure of the Secretary‑General, the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council.
