Trying Not To Get Shot: Trends in Aid Worker Fatalities

A new study recently came out, tracking fatal attacks against aid workers from 2002 to 2005.  Which is a rather grim business, to be sure - the research equivalent of slowing down to stare at the scene of an accident.

Of course, I'm little better, as this blog has regularly tracked similar statistics.  And, in a sign of far too much free time, just spent a rainy LA afternoon looking up previous studies on the same topic, to get a sense of overall trends.

Or, put another way, is aid work getting more dangerous?  What's a greater risk - auto accidents on third-world roads, or that kohl-eyed insurgent clutching his kalashnikov?

And, finally, who tends to get shot?  The expatriate from the States or Europe, or the national staff-member who's lived in the area all his life?

First, as to the trends -  in the 1980s and 1990s violent attacks accounted for less than half of all aid worker fatalities; today, they account for more than 50% of all aid worker deaths.

According to the study Deaths Among Humanitarian Workers, from 1985 to 1998 only 39% of all deaths were due to intentional violence.

That percentage rose over significantly over the last decade.  A study by Dennis King - Paying the Ultimate Price: An Analysis of Aid Worker Fatalities - looking at the period from 1997 to 2001 found that "more civilian humanitarian aid workers were killed by acts of violence than died in vehicle and aircraft accidents."

According to the most recent study - "Violence related mortality and morbidity of humanitarian workers" (a powerpoint presentation of which is available here) - looking at the period from 2002 to 2005:

"Intentional violence accounted for 55 percent of all deaths reported, followed by coincidental illness (27%) and accidents (15%)."

(This study also found that 61% of all attacks occurred while staff were traveling to and from project sites.)

So, whereas twenty-five years ago a drunken truck driver was the main menace, now it's the Taliban, or Al Shabab in Somalia, or other similarly wild-eyed insurgents.

According to Providing aid in insecure environments - the most comprehensive report on the subject - the number of "reported major acts of violence" against aid workers increased 92% between1997-2001 and 2002-2005.

(This was somewhat counter-balanced, however, by the fact that the total number of aid workers in the field increased by 77% over the same period.)

Overall last year, at least 89 aid workers were killed - for comparison's sake, Dennis King recorded 141 aid worker fatalities between 1997 and 2001, for an average of just over 35 a year.

That said, the most list of most dangerous countries has changed over the last decade.  The four most dangerous countries for aid workers last year were, in order, Somalia, Afghanistan, Darfur and then Chad.  For the period 1997 to 2001, the four most dangerous countries were Angola, Sudan, Rwanda and Afghanistan.  (Somalia came in fifth, just missing the cut.)

One thing that hasn't changed, however - it's far more dangerous to be national staff than to be an expatriate.

From 1997 to 2001, the vast majority of those killed (74%) were national staff.

If you extend the range from 1997 to 2005, then 78% of all aid worker victims were national staff.  On the other hand, according to the most recent study, expatriate staff were far more at risk from illness than from armed attack.

(Again, though, it's important to add that national staff far outnumber expatriate staff in the field.)

Finally, another thing that hasn't changed is the lack of security training that agencies provide to their staff.  According to In the Line of Fire, a 2004 report by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, only 30% of expatriates and 14% of national staff said that they'd received security training from their organization.

In a completely unscientific poll I conducted earlier this year of aid workers in Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan / Darfur and West Bank / Gaza, almost none had received any security training before going overseas.  About half had received either training or a security briefing once they arrived in-country.

[Somali militiaman overseeing a food distribution - Photo from AP]