Rising Attacks on Aid Workers Linked to Perception of Close Ties to Governments

The rising numbers of attacks against global aid workers is threatening their safety and the humanitarian work they provide in many of the worlds' turbulent areas. Government action that intrudes into the operations of nongovernment organizations has contributed to the problem, according to experts. In the U.S. a proposal to require United States Agency for International Development (USAID) grant applicants to collect and submit personal data on program partners threatens to exacerbate the situation.

Studies conducted by various aid watchdog groups and interviews with aid workers in the conflict zones reveal the dangers facing relief workers are increasing and the violence is overwhelmingly premeditated.

Patronus Analytical [1], a group measuring the security risks of places receiving humanitarian aid, finds that 90 percent of deaths of relief workers is non-accidental. According to their findings, the second leading cause of deaths for aid workers in politically turbulent areas is classified as "political/conflict".

To reverse this trend, it is imperative that aid workers are perceived to be independent of military or political influence. When local populations perceive an NGO as working too closely with the government, the loss of credibility is difficult to restore. Programs such as USAID's proposed Partner Vetting System (PVS) represent a dangerous policy choice. USAID's goal is appropriate: to "ensure USAID funds and USAID-funded activities are not purposefully or inadvertently used to provide support to entities or individuals deemed to be a risk to national security." However, the mechanism is the problem.  To achieve this, the agency wants to require applicants to submit detailed personal information on "key individuals" to be shared with the intelligence agencies. Their rule [2], currently under review by the Obama administration, says "Information provided to USAID by applicants will be transmitted to USAID employees who will check that information against one or more databases maintained by the intelligence community."

If adopted, PVS will eliminate the buffer between the government and NGOs that is paramount to any group providing goods and services autonomously. The Charity and Security Network has published an Issue Brief [3] that analyzes the problems with PVS and calls on USAID to consider alternatives. Unless the Obama administration takes further action, the rule will go into effect on April 3. (update: The final rule has been postponed until May 1)

Recent Incidents of Aid Workers Killed or Kidnapped Impact Long-term Aid Delivery

The killing or kidnapping of aid workers has become almost become routine in certain parts of the world. Employees of NGOs from the United States, Europe and across Africa are increasingly becoming victims of violence between rival factions and governments who are unable or unwilling to provide adequate security for aid workers.

The U.N. [4] has said that "dozens of people involved in relief work were kidnapped and/or killed in 2008 and large consignments of aid items were pillaged by insurgents and criminal groups". The following incidents have occurred in first two months of 2009:

• On Jan. 8 an Associated Press report [5] described the murder of two U.N. World Food program workers in Somalia, noting these actions follow the murder of 13 aid workers there in 2008. (The article also said two aid workers for Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) who had been kidnapped in Ethiopia in September 2008 were released the day before the killing of the food aid worker.)
• On Jan. 15 the New York Times reported [6] that three Red Cross workers were abducted in the Philippines, describing the action as "the latest in a string." The workers, from Switzerland, Italy and the Philippines, were in Sulu, an area where rebel groups, including Abu Sayyaf, are reported to be active. Their mission was to inspect a jail near a location where they had worked on water and sanitation projects.
• On Feb. 2 John Solecki, the head of the U.N.'s High Commission for Refugees in Baluchistan province in Pakistan was kidnapped by the Baluchistan Liberation United Front. [7]. According to a Feb. 23 report from
• On Feb. 23 the BBC reported [8] that two Sudanese aid workers for Aide Medicale Internationale were attacked and killed in an ambush in South Dafur.

After two aid workers [9] and an U.N. World Food Programme employee were killed in Somalia in the summer of 2008, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said, "It is intolerable and incomprehensible that humanitarian workers striving to save lives and alleviate human suffering in one of the most difficult environments in the world are being targeted and killed."

An unnamed NGO employee [4] working in the Logar Province in Afghanistan said that charitable groups "could safely access communities controlled by different warring parties. People respected us and supported our work." But will that relationship continue if the government is steering the relief work for projects that meet a political agenda?

The long-term result of these attacks will be the loss of urgent aid to people in great need. This sentiment is quickly becoming realized on the ground by NGO employees. "If the situation doesn’t improve, no one will dare to work for foreign organizations. People like me may lose their jobs, but the real suffering will be endured by communities in need who will have nobody to assist them," said the same unnamed NGO worker.