Zomi Frankcom’s family says aid workers “can’t be brave at any cost” as the Australian government launches a new international push to protect humanitarian personnel.
Australia also renewed its calls for its citizens to leave Lebanon, after a wave of Israeli airstrikes on alleged Hezbollah targets left the country with its highest daily death toll since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
“We’re alarmed by the escalation and the loss of civilian life, both in Lebanon and also the attacks into Israel,” the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, told reporters in New York.
“We have consistently said we wish to see de-escalation. We believe a wider regional conflict is not in the interests of any of the peoples of the region.”
Wong arrived in New York on Monday for a series of meetings and discussed the protection of aid workers with major humanitarian organisations, including World Central Kitchen.
Frankcom, 43, was among seven WCK staff who were killed in a series of Israeli drone strikes in Gaza on 1 April. The Israeli military said it was “a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the standard operating procedures”.
In a statement issued on Monday, Wong said Gaza was now “the deadliest place on Earth to be an aid worker” and “we want to ensure that their tragic deaths are not in vain and do not continue”.
Wong noted in the statement that 2024 was on track to be the deadliest year on record for aid workers and that the Australian government was “deeply concerned by this trend”.
“It signifies that the rules and norms that protect humanitarian personnel are at risk, with consequences for current and future conflicts,” she said.
“It also signifies that calls for compliance with international humanitarian law are not being heard.”
Wong later made similar comments at a Monday press event (Tuesday Australian time) alongside international colleagues.
She announced that Australia would be joined by Jordan, Switzerland, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, the UK, Japan, Brazil and Colombia in forming a “ministerial group for the protection of humanitarian personnel”.
Sources had earlier said the Australian government would try to secure support from as many countries as possible for a new declaration that is “global in reach and application, reaffirming existing humanitarian law and setting out practical and actionable steps to protect aid workers in conflict”.
The Australian government hopes to channel international commitments into action to save civilian lives in current and future conflicts. The declaration could take several months to finalise.
Frankcom’s family backed the new push, saying the Australian citizen had “brought joy and hope and light to communities in some of the darkest hours of their lives”.
“People like Zomi are rare and their bravery and selflessness should be not only celebrated but protected. They can’t be brave at any cost,” the family said in a new statement.
The family said Frankcom “wasn’t naive enough to believe there weren’t risks” but had to be able to “trust that the deconfliction mechanisms in place would protect her”.
“We also wish for an immediate end to the blatant disregard for safety shown to aid workers and innocent civilians in the current conflict, but more so, a ceasefire and end to the current conflict,” the family statement said.
The deputy leader of the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, told the Senate last week that the Australian government should call for an independent investigation into the killings “because Zomi Frankcom and her family deserve justice”.
Humanitarian organisations welcomed the proposal for a new declaration to protect aid workers.
The chief executive of Unicef Australia, Tony Stuart, said the international community “must stand together to condemn violence against humanitarian workers”.
The executive director of international humanitarian law at Australian Red Cross, Yvette Zegenhagen, said action was needed after an “alarming” rise in fatalities of humanitarian workers.
The Australian Council for International Development (Acfid) welcomed the Australian government’s decision to use its voice at the UN to champion the issue.
“We hope that there is a particular focus on the need for accountability and consequences for breaches of international humanitarian law,” the chief executive, Marc Purcell, said.
Acfid last week reiterated its calls for the Australian government to “impose targeted sanctions against individuals and entities that have called for the purposeful denial of humanitarian assistance and starvation in Gaza”.
Wong announced on Monday that Australia would provide an additional $10m in funding to Unicef and the UN Population Fund to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including to deliver nutrition and essential hygiene and health products.
