Humanitarian work is a risky endeavor as aid workers brave not only the dangers of disasters but also acts of aggression.

About 300 relief workers encountered some form of attack or violence last year, according to the United Nations’ records. A decade ago, 65 humanitarian workers figured in similar circumstances, The Epoch Times reports.

“I think it is important for people to remember that the need for humanitarian aid has increased over the years. The bottom line is that you cannot help people in need if it is too dangerous to reach them and if you are risking to be killed,” Stephanie Bunker, spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, tells The Epoch Times.

Attacks against aid workers may be attributed to the perception that aid work is tied to religious or cultural interests.

“The perception that humanitarian aid is being delivered solely by Western groups and that it is representative of certain religions or ideologies have made aid workers targets of violence,” according to a U.N. statement released Aug. 19, designated as World Humanitarian Day.

Bunker disproves the notion that aid work is a Western phenomenon, or a Christian phenomenon, saying that most relief workers are not expatriates, but nationals of aid-recipient countries.

“The vast majority of the people who have been harmed as a result of attackers’ deeds are actually national staff and people working in their own countries to help their fellow citizens. That’s a real shame,” she says.

Simon Schorno, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, agrees with Bunker. He says local aid workers are more vulnerable to attacks because they are out there, living and working among the people, and often taken hostage or killed.

Local relief workers can also be “perceived by the other people in the community as collaborators, for example. That is why often they are the targets,” Schorno adds.