Haitians Carry Away Ministry of Commerce Remains

ODI On... World Humanitarian Day

19 August 2013 00:00 - 23:59

World Humanitarian Day marks the day, ten years ago, when 22 aid workers were killed by a terrorist attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq. Ten years on, aid workers continue to face targeted or indiscriminate attacks while delivering aid on the frontlines. ODI researchers look at the challenges the humanitarian sector faces in working in dangerous and insecure environments.

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Overview

Outputs

A day to honor Syria’s humanitarian workers

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 19 August 2013

Clad in crimson overalls, with a gleaming red crescent framed in white on their backs, the volunteers of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) hardly blend into the crowd. Yet despite being clearly marked as humanitarian workers, SARC volunteers continue to come under fire in one of the bloodiest civil wars ongoing today.

On the 3rd of March 2013, SARC staff member Mohieddine Mahmoud died while on duty when heavy shelling wracked Jobar neighbourhood in the suburbs of Damascus.

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World Humanitarian Day: counting the costs

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 18 August 2013

Local aid worker deaths in the spotlight

As humanitarian organisations venture further into the frontlines to deliver medical care, food and shelter, the cost of aid work has risen. These costs are not only financial – but human in nature. On World Humanitarian Day, August 19, we are reminded of the importance of the security and safety of humanitarian aid workers, both local and international.

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Violence towards aid workers increasing

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 30 June 2013

Delivering aid in the midst of conflict has always been dangerous and difficult work. Over the last few years, aid agencies have increased attention to the risks their staff and partners face in these contexts, including examining security, fiduciary, reputational and legal risks.

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Paradoxes of presence: Risk management and aid culture in challenging environments

Publication - Research reports and studies - 31 March 2013

HPG Commissioned Reports

Sarah Collinson and Mark Duffield with Carol Berger, Diana Felix da Costa and Karl Sandstrom

This publication reflects on the increasing presence of humanitarian agencies in insecure environments and risk management – and the fundamental tension between ‘staying’ and ‘staying safe’. It argues for efforts to broaden and deepen the risk agenda beyond the immediate preoccupations of ostensibly manageable security risks, but which encompasses attention to the host of interconnected challenges and hazards involved.

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Remembering the humanitarians

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 15 August 2012

This year’s World Humanitarian Day will commemorate the highest annual incidence of major attacks against aid workers worldwide, yet recorded.

In the years that have elapsed since the foundation of World Humanitarian Day a number of trends and developments have emerged which profoundly affect how, where and in what circumstances humanitarian workers can provide assistance to populations in peril.

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Operational Security Management in Violent Environments (Revised Edition)

Publication - Research reports and studies - 31 December 2010

HPN Good Practice Reviews 8

Koenraad Van Brabant

This paper offers a systematic step-by-step approach to security management starting from context analysis, threat and risk assessment through to security strategy choice and security planning.

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Aid workers under fire

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 30 October 2009

On Wednesday, a bomb rocked a UN guesthouse in Kabul, killing at least five people.

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Providing Aid in Insecure Environments: Trends in violence against aid workers and the operational response (2009 Update)

Publication - Briefing papers - 6 April 2009

HPG Policy Briefs 34

Abby Stoddard, Adele Harmer and Victoria DiDomenico

In 2008, 260 humanitarian aid workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks – the highest yearly toll on record. The majority of these attacks took place in just countries: Sudan, Afghanistan and Somalia. Kidnappings in particular have increased since 2006, increasing 350% compared since 2006. The fatality rate of aid workers from malicious acts alone surpassed that of United Nations peacekeeping soldiers in 2008. In the most violent contexts for aid workers, politically motivated attacks have risen relative to common crime and banditry, as international aid organisations are perceived as part of Western geopolitical interests.

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Overview

ODI researchers look at the challenges the humanitarian sector faces in working in dangerous and insecure environments.