Looking Back - When Humanitarians Become Targets

There's a quote I love from All Day Permanent Red, by Christopher Logue: "Happy in danger in a dangerous place / Yourself another self you found at Troy."  I'm still tempted by that idea, that somehow we find ourselves in danger; or, even more attractive, the idea that we find a better self.

Of course, it's easy to think that sitting in Los Angeles, and something much different again when working in places where such danger is a real - and growing - reality.

By any measure, it's been a brutal year for aid workers - 36 killed in Somalia, 33 in Afghanistan, 11 in Darfur, and four in Chad.

At least two aid workers have been killed in the DRC, and at least two in Sri Lanka, including an ACF staff-member killed on November 27th, and an ICRC staff killed earlier this week, on December 23rd.

In addition, a WFP driver was killed in the Philippines on December 21st.  An aid worker was also killed in Pakistan in November.  Tragically, even this is not a comprehensive list.

At the same time, the trends don't give much room for optimism.  Attacks against aid workers almost doubled between 1997 and 2005.

According to a 2006 HPG report, Providing aid in insecure environments: trends in policy and operations:

"By any measure, international aid work is a dangerous profession. When we compared on-the-job death rates for aid workers against the ten most hazardous civilian occupations in the US, aid workers came in at number five..."

And, if anything, the situation has only grown worse since then.  In some ways, fatalities are a misleading statistic, as most violent incidents don't actually end in death.  To give a sense of the risks facing aid workers today:

- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports over 100 attacks on aid workers in Congo this year.

- The Somalia NGO Safety Preparedness and Support Program (SPAS) reports 149 direct security "incidents" and 29 indirect incidents involving humanitarian agencies this year.  This includes 36 staff killed and 17 injured.  There have also been a total of 28 abductions.  (SPAS Report 51/08, current through December 16th)

- The Afghanistan NGO Security Office (ANSO) reports 141 NGO security incidents this year; the most dangerous provinces were Kabul (22 incidents), Kunduz (14 incidents), Herat (14 incidents), and Khandahar (13 incidents).

ANSO breaks down these incidents as follows: 24% were armed robberies, 22% were threats, 21% were abductions, 17% were armed attacks, 4% were IEDs / explosions, 4% were arson, 3% were missile / mortar fire, and 3% were beatings. (ANSO Report #15, December 15th)

- In Darfur, the UN reports that, between January and October 1st this year, 144 humanitarian premises have been assualted / broken into, 225 humanitarian vehicles have been hijacked (including WFP-contracted vehicles), and 170 humanitarian staff (including WFP drivers) have been temporarily abducted. (UN Darfur Humanitarian Profile #33, as of October 1st)

- According to the UN Secretary General's August 18th report Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnel, covering the period from July 1st, 2007 and June 30th, 2008:

"[T]he number of deaths of United Nations civilian staff members [worldwide] as a result of malicious acts increased by 36 per cent to a total of 25, compared to 16 deaths in the previous year."

During the same reporting period, there were a total of "490 attacks, 546 harassment and intimidation cases, 578 robberies, 263 physical assaults, 119 hijackings and 160 arrests by State actors and 39 cases of detention by non-State actors. There were also 84 forced entries and occupations of United Nations offices and 583 residential break-ins."

The vast majority of victims of such attacks are national staff.  For instance, ANSO reported in September that national staff accounted for 81% of the aid workers killed and 94% of the aid workers abducted this year in Afghanistan.

The impact goes far beyond humanitarian agencies themselves - spiraling insecurity restricts humanitarian access, meaning that those most in need never receive assistance. 

In Darfur, humanitarian access has now fallen to its lowest level since October 2006. 

In Afghanistan, 40-50% of the country is now too dangerous for the UN to operate.

In Congo, the most recent UN OCHA Humanitarian Situation Update (as of December 23rd) reports:

"The total number of attacks against humanitarian workers in Nord Kivu in 2008 has just passed the milestone of 100, including two deaths. Access constrains in this province deter a large number of displaced persons as well as other vulnerable Congolese from life-saving assistance, and also endangers the lives of humanitarians."

(For more information about how insecurity affects humanitarian access in Congo, see here.)

Insecurity poses a similar challenge in places like Chad and Somalia.

For an analysis of why attacks have increased in recent years, see here.

Finally, I wrote a few days ago about the Stephen D. Vance Foundation, which provides support to the families of slain international aid workers.  The Foundation honors Stephen Vance, who was murdered this past November while working on a development program in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan.  If you're at all interested in supporting the Foundation, please visit their website here.

[Coffins of aid workers killed in an attack in Afghanistan - Photo from AFP / Getty Images]