NGO Safety

Photo by: EC/ECHO

Working in some of the most insecure places on the planet, aid workers are exposed to elevated risks to their safety while providing humanitarian assistance to communities who depend on aid for their survival.

The protection of aid workers is enshrined in international humanitarian law and rules governing non-international armed conflict as laid out in Additional Protocols I and II (1977) of the Geneva Conventions (1949) and more specifically in UN Security Council Resolution 1502 (2003) which gives greater protection to humanitarian workers and treats attacks on them as a war crime.

However, with the decline in international conflicts and corresponding increase in non-international conflicts involving non-state armed groups, often driven by political, religious or ethnic ideologies; there has been a clear erosion in respect for the legal frameworks that protect aid workers.

Moreover, a mistrust of NGO neutrality amongst such groups can lead to deliberate targeting of NGO staff or denial of access to populations in need. Due to their visibility and presence in unstable environments, aid workers also fall victim to opportunistic crime and collateral involvement in violent exchanges.

According to a Status Report by OCHA (August 2014), the year 2014 saw a major surge in humanitarian crises around the world in which 102 million people were estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance compared to 81 million in December 2013. This heightened humanitarian need means more aid workers on the ground in places where the State is unable, or unwilling, to provide basic services to crisis-affected populations.

The provision of pre-deployment security training to NGO staff and the presence of field security personnel are important steps in mitigating risk. However, in complex emergencies NGOs, especially smaller and local ones, may not always have the capacity to address the full scope of round-the-clock monitoring and long-term analysis required to adequately improve situational awareness and enable informed decision-making on a consistent basis.

As experienced humanitarians with a core mission to support the safety of aid workers, INSO experts have a first hand understanding of the risks, challenges and specific considerations of programming in insecure contexts. 

The quality, depth, relevance and comprehensive nature of INSO's services mean that NGOs are able to reduce the risks faced by field staff and improve access to people in need.














 - Aidan O'Leary - Head of Office - UNOCHA (Afghanistan)

