(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibUvL21mdn0)

pixel skylines
dirt enthusiast
Three Goblin Art
Sweet Seals For You, Always

Discoholic đŞŠ
Cosmic Funnies
occasionally subtle

tannertan36

PR's Tumblrdome
hello vonnie
đŞź

titsay
Sade Olutola
No title available
cherry valley forever
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
No title available
Jules of Nature
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from South Korea
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from Belgium

seen from United States

seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Spain

seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Jamaica
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
@7piliers
(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibUvL21mdn0)
Yep, #cancer happens pretty much like this: âwhile youâre busy making other plans.â
I Was In Tripoli The Day Gaddafi Was Killed
My latest blog describing my memories of when Gaddafi was killed; Tripoli, 20 October 2011.
If you would like to subscribe to my blog, please click here:Â http://7piliers.com/contact/Â
Why Translation Tools For Refugees Matters
For a brief period in 1999 I was in-charge of tent accommodation in Cegrane Refugee Camp in Macedonia (FYROM), which was the largest single camp in the Kosovo crisis, housing over 43,000 refugees. It was clear to me that the refugees who had fled the fighting lacked a lot of things, but within a few months in the camp their most basic needs were met. Â Or so I thought.Â
Within days of the conflict ending on 11 June, many refugees started to spontaneously return to Kosovo. Those that remained mostly lacked the means to return or perhaps were hoping for resettlement to a third-country. My job was to move families, who were living in parts of the camp left empty by the returnees, to new tents located closer to camp services and other families. Â When moving the families I quickly realized that I needed to be better at communicating with the refugees â in Albanian - about why they needed to move and the process for doing so.Â
My Kosovar staff were great, but their English was not the best. Without adequate translators and interpreters, the refugees and I could not communicate effectively. The ensuing communication barriers undoubtedly contributed to increased tension and stress for the people I was there to help.  In the 17 years since then the need to improve how aid workers communicate with affected communities, including refugees, has not diminished. Until recently, communicating with communities was often an underfunded and neglected part of a response. Thanks to sustained advocacy work by the likes of the CDAC Network, Translators without Borders, and others, this is slowly starting to change.
In the following conversation, Imogen Mathers and Rebecca Petras discuss why it is important for refugees to be able to access information in their own languages. Â Imogen is producer/assistant editor at SciDev.Net; Rebecca is the Deputy Director of Translators Without Borders.Â
This edited transcript is used with the kind permission of SciDev.Net, âthe worldâs leading source of reliable and authoritative news, views and analysis on information about science and technology for global development.â The full podcast and accompanying article can be accessed at: Tech tools break down language barriers in emergencies
Imogen Mathers:  For those who don't speak Farsi or Pashto, the messages  we just played will be pretty meaningless, barring one or two global words like âpleaseâ or âcomputer.â In many countries prone to natural disasters or  conflict, and where multiple languages are spoken, these kinds of linguistic barriers  can be seriously dangerous. When emergencies strike information to assist people is often broadcast in the majority language, leaving those who don't  speak it in the dark.
For refugees to poor to access to information and  translation services can be perilous even life threatening. The messages we  played just now include information for refugees arriving in Europe. How to  register, where to photocopy documents and get medical help, where to get a  cup of tea. These are simple vital messages, yet this kind of multilingual  translation service is rare in emergencies and rarer still in the European  refugee crisis. I spoke to the NGO Translators Without Borders to find out  what they've been doing to address this problem and how technology can help.
Rebecca Petras: My name is Rebecca Petras, I'm the deputy director of  Translators Without Borders.
Imogen Mathers: Please can you tell us about the Words of Relief project  that you've recently set up?
Rebecca Petras:  Yes, Words of Relief is a project that is specifically  focused on crisis relief, and how translation and language can make a  difference during a crisis situation. We developed Words of Relief as a pilot  program really looking at what tools in translation and language we could use  during crises. Our initial work in that was done in Kenya, and then we've  taken it beyond Kenya to really apply it to various crises around the world  in the last two years. The pilot project was about an eighteen month project  in which we looked at three different areas that we really wanted to focus  on. The first looking at what content to proactively be available before the  crisis strikes. So in the case of Kenya we were looking at twelve categories  of crisis and looking for the right kind of content that is helpful to affected  population. Putting that into local language especially into Swahili and also  into Somali.
Imogen Mathers: Somali because a large refugee population in Kenya is  Somali?
Rebecca Petras:  Yes, we did other local languages as well in Kenya.  There are about twelve main languages in Kenya. The Swahili is a lingua  franca for Kenya with Somali not having a lot of crossover, a lot of the  Somalian population doesn't speak Swahili.
Imogen Mathers: Â What kind of information were those messages including?
Rebecca Petras:  The kind of information we care about is basic  information to help the affected population in the crisis, and really  that's what we focused on simple messages. Public service announcements,  audio, and basic health information depending on what the crisis was. So we  were looking at everything from earthquakes to tsunami to drought to  epidemic, and doing content in those areas that we could then translate and  make openly available when a crisis strikes.
Imogen Mathers: Â So it's things like where people can access healthcare, Â food, water?
Rebecca Petras: Yes, it's what to do in an aftershock with an  earthquake. What is an after shock and how to protect yourself? How to boil  water if there's no clean water. We did a lot of work around various diseases  including malaria outbreak, cholera, Ebola, basic basic information on what  it looks like what to do.Â
Imogen Mathers:  What role does technology play in this? What's the  actual infrastructure that you're developing?
Rebecca Petras:  Technology plays two main roles. The first is as a work  flow process in order to improve rapid response. So what I was talking about  before with proactive information that's readily available. But the fact of  the matter is early on in the crisis, especially in the first seventy two  hours, you're really just trying to get a feel of what's going on where it's  going on and getting as much information from the affected population to the  aid organization. So going the other direction. In that sense we really want  to bring technology to bear by figuring out ways to connect using data  aggregators who are getting information straight from the affected population  via social media, going through them and making sure they are only focused on  the one percent or two percent of messages that matter. Taking all of the  english messages coming in translating them very quickly and providing it  back with geo location so that people can be found, this is for search and  rescue. The best example of what we did with that work was in Nepal.
The second place that technology is really important,  it's really quite interesting, is with machine translation. We generally know  it as Google translate or Bing translate. And for the high languages or the  world languages such as French Spanish English, these tools have worked  really well. You'll get like an 85 percent correct rate. But in a lot of  crisis languages machine translation either doesn't exist or it's really  really poor. Poor in the sense that it's actually detrimental to translation  process. One of our big goals is to make machine translation useful in those  languages and in those cases where we often see crises strike. The goal being  if you have that tool you really in many cases can help the aid worker and the  affected population communicate better, many without our help without our  human translation needs.
We then have taken it on ... Actually working with  Microsoft, they gave us an inkind donation to strengthen those engines. We  took the Swahili engine from a 1 percent correct, what they call a blue score  which is basically how accurate it is or how helpful it is. We took it from  one percent to over fifty percent. Our translator then with a thousand words,  instead of taking four to five hours to translate it can do it in about  twenty to twenty five minutes. Which is a huge improvement.
Imogen Mathers:  You mentioned that you develop a database of messages  preemptively, before a crisis might strike. What extent do you think yo will  then be adjusting this response according to the demands of the situation? I  imagine it's going to be very contact specific as well.
Rebecca Petras:  Absolutely. A lot of content is specific to that  specific situation, but a lot is not. Cholera is a great example. Cholera  hits so many places in so many different languages we have really strong  content in our repository in a lot of local languages that absolutely for the  affected population dealing with cholera. Because we had it already done in  Swahili we were able to do it very quickly in Colundi when cholera struck the  refugee camp for the Balindi refugees in Tanzania. You can either grab it and  say right here it is in Arabic, here it is in Haitian Creole, here it is in  Colundi that's what we're going for. There's no question that in many cases  you have to modify or do new content, but we have shown where content  available can then be grabbed then used very quickly in another part of the  world.
Imogen Mathers: Â Does radio come into your work at all?
Rebecca Petras:  Absolutely. Radio is key certainly in parts of the world  where literacy rates are low we very much want to work with radio. One of the  main things we try to do is provide public service announcements that are  then available for local radio stations. We always will do that through  partners. Inter News is always a big partner, we did some work in Kenya in  Somalia I believe. We used radio in West Africa as well with the Ebola  crisis. In the European refugee crisis radio is not used a lot, however audio  is being used a lot. Registration centers, used on buses, and in those cases  we're actually doing the audio.
Imogen Mathers:  The Ebola outbreak ad now with the Zika crisis women  have been affected in quite specific ways. In Ebola they were often the  caregivers and now with Zika obviously with issues around pregnancy. How did gender  considerations come into your work?
Rebecca Petras:  It's a big issue, it comes in a number of ways. Number  one typically if there's an english speaker in the community it's not a  woman, so they tend to be the least informed. They get their information  second or third or fourth hand. So to really make sure that you're talking to  the woman in a way hat she understand is tricky, and you need to understand  is she literate. Is she literate in her local language or not? How do we  reach her because she may not have that mobile phone, she may not have you  know been going to the community meetings. So we do try to tailor messaging  to be very simple. We try to make sure there is iconography as well, and  making sure that audio and video is used where possible.
Imogen Mathers:  Also with children, when you're dealing with a whole  other set of communication issues and ethics issues. How do you go about  responding to the needs of kids?
Rebecca Petras:  It's an excellent question. It's not easy. With girls in  particular you still have the literacy issues so we try to get around that  with audio as well. One of the things we do is we try to always work with  protection teams, and we try to make sure their information is easily  understood and in the right language. That is a real big issue in the  migration crisis, we really try to coordinate with an organization who are  focused on protection, but to be totally honest I can't say that that has  been resolved. That we clearly understand how best to do it, but it is very  much top of mind.
 This transcript is used with the kind permission of SciDev.Net, âthe worldâs leading source of reliable and authoritative news, views and analysis on information about science and technology for global development.â
To learn more about what is #CommIsAid watch this great video from the CDAC Network.
The Complexity of Insecure Environments: Emergency AIDio Discussions at the World Humanitarian Summit
Over the course of the World Humanitarian Summit, Emergency AIDio released two shows focusing on aid worker wellness. In this second show, recorded before the official opening of the Summit, host Nuran Higgins discusses the increasing operational complexity of insecure environments that humanitarian organisations work in and the challenges this faces for aid workers on the frontline with guests Pauline Chetcuti, Head of Humanitarian Advocacy for Action Contre la Faim, and Rebecca Maudling, the Director of International Location Safety.
 The following is a transcript of the second audio show, which is posted here with the kind permission of The Healthy Nomad Emergency AIDio; âthe first independent international broadcasting community for aid workers. Emergency AIDio is focused on connecting aid workers around the globe to discuss the issues that shape our lives; and enjoy music with a purpose to strengthen the human dimension back into life. â Â
Nuran Higgins: Â Â Â Â Â Â Hi everyone, it's Nuran Higgins and your listening to Emergency Aidio. The community space is all about connecting aid workers to discuss real issues that shape our live.... Heading into day two of the Summit, I draw again on a quote from the Secretary General who says, "Now it is time to turn promises into action for this generation and uphold people's safety, dignity and the right to thrive."Â
One of the prominent challenges affecting the humanitarian landscape that is dire need of turning these very words into reality, is the issue surrounding safety and security and protection of aid workers, which will be the focus of the second day of the World Humanitarian Summit special. But today humanitarian organizations and aid workers are operating in much more highly complex and insecure places. They...(are)...more exposed to the shifting patterns of insecurity amidst ongoing operational challenges with humanitarian access, protection of staff and civilian and facilities and upholding principle humanitarian action to name a few. We've also seen...a clear trend across all organizations with the escalation insecurity incidents of deaths and kidnappings disproportionately affecting national staff around the world.
Alongside this is the use of explosive weapons. Especially in urban and other civilian populated areas as part of military campaigns remains a major concern with the respect to the delivery of independent and impartial humanitarian aide. The indiscriminate use of explosive weapons has raised the risk for humanitarian organizations that are no longer confident that their emblems will protect them when acts of impunity are not dealt with by the very rules that govern war. Now individual governments have the primary responsibility to ensure the protection of aide workers within their boundaries with such accountability also lies with the broader international community who share their responsibility as well.
Now, to talk about this complex but critical issue today we are pleased to have with us on the show, guests Ms. Pauline Chetcuti, who is the Head of Humanitarian Advocacy for Action Contre la Faim. And Rebecca Maudling who is the director for International Locations Safety.
And today's World Humanitarian Summit special is a call out to state leaders that existing just on good intentions which are not solidified without concrete action can no longer continue as aid workers and committed humanitarian organizations across the globe are mobilizing together as a collective force.
Together we stand in solidarity. And even when silence, we will continue to speak out. Reinforcing state obligations to uphold the laws they have signed up to and demand accountability of state and non state actors of the inalienable right of all aide workers to be able to operate in a safe and protected environment. And that values that health and well being while in the service in humanity. We are a part of one humanity. And we fall upon you to uphold and share your responsibility.
There's no denying that a sense of anxiety has been felt leading up to the summit. The scene has a critical juncture across the humanitarian sector in setting the future direction to setting the most pressing issues influencing the changing humanitarian landscape. The question most pressing that many are waiting to see is whether the outcome of the summit will galvanize real tangible changes for action.
And to open up this discussion, I'd like to welcome our guests on today's show, Pauline and Rebecca. Thanks so much joining us here on Emergency AIDio, to talk about this important topic today.
Pauline Chetcuti: Â Â Â Â Â Thank you, it's a real pleasure to be here.
Rebecca Maudling: Â Â Â Thank you Nuran, it is great to be on Aidio.
Nuran Higgins: Â Â Â Â Â Â At the heart of humanitarian action lies a deep rooted call of humanitarian principles which governments have affirmed that for the first time in over a 150 years the brutality displayed in our conflicts to today, we're continuing to see at an alarming scale a serious violation and abuses. Alongside, a lack of respect for international humanitarian law that governs the rules of war.
In the last year alone (in Afghanistan) the Ministers of Frontier have had 75 of their hospitals bombed. Including the Kundunz airstrike of the trauma hospital in Afghanistan, where 42 people were killed, including 12 MSF staff members.
In the last fortnight the Syrian Arab Red Crescents were refused entry into Daria to provide civilians that have suffered relentless violence over the last three an half years with life-saving humanitarian aide. Â Alongside this, there continues to be indiscriminate attacks and killings on civilians. In deliberate denial of humanitarian assistance in countries such as Syria, South Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan as a tactic of war.
What's most disturbing about this is that in spite of their being international legal frameworks in place over the last 150 years, examples such as this are not in isolation today, which illustrates a frightening trend. The very foundation of international humanitarian law, human rights, and refugee law. Along with our shared values and norms that drive humanitarian action, a very much at risk of being threatened if we do not act now. Â More than ever, we need to stand together to fight against impunity, which in turn threatens axis to populations in need of assistance.
But of the five core responsibilities of which states and high level stakeholders committing to announce bold actions at the summit. Upholding the norms that safeguard humanities is the main area that is focused more specifically around principle humanitarian action concerns that organizations responding in the front line of humanitarian crisis are facing.
Throughout the World Humanitarian Summit consultative process there was strong call out not only for the need to preserve and reaffirm humanitarian principles but also to ensure that they are respected and complied with more consistently.
Bearing this in mind, what are the most concerning issues affecting the ability of humanitarian organizations today in being able to uphold humanitarian principles that you feel are critical to be addressed at the summit.
 Rebecca Maudling:    Thank you for asking this question because back then, the action and the connected response, must be on the respect of humanitarian principles. There is several...(aspects) to this and we have to win mark to recall that in any case, applying all the principles in the field is the question of balance. The challenges that we face are down to the area and contents in which we work. For example, when we are in areas of conflict, maintaining humanity is the key point for ACF, we will try to discern by negotiating access with the different parties of control over the area to the extent and will try to remain neutral by being focusing specifically and only on the means as we assert them.
 Based on these needs, it is something that we would allow us to remain as neutral as possible in the contest of conflict. Another challenge would be to maintain independence from political agenda. For example, we can see that some donors may have direct or indirect interest in a conflict and would then use their influenceâŚ.to have an influence on how the conflict is going. Another example is that in some areas like in Afghanistan, we will simply extract some funding from donors, when these donors are configured either as the direct regiment or in the conflict or having departmental or political agendasâŚ.It is very very urgent that we remain in tedious and neutral and impoverish-able and independent from the donors.
 Pauline Chetcuti:      This is exactly the key point where the Summit can be useful for a better and more effective humanitarian response. It is if states can admit to very concrete and very complete decision.... For example in different documents we have called on states to commit not fundâŚa crisis or a conflict where they are directly involved. But in conflict, if they could commit directly they are perhaps it to would be very interesting. This is a commitment that would be very concrete and very easy to make, ensure that human principles are respected. By that I mean, we're not all viewed as king or the donor not to fund a call, whether it's just asking them to use this money, for example for the emergency funds and call this carefully the different emergency funds so that they are then re-dispatched according to the emergency or to the different crisis that we can see in the Iran world.
Another very simple engagement that they could take would be to (re)commit to...(the)Â Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative. This is a very good initiative that states are trying to re-commit the initiative, we wish that more donors would be following the principles of the GHD.
Another very simple example would be to ensure that the donors or principals would be for them to refrain from including into the contract clauses that may put the NGO's in a difficult position, such as the polices on counter-terrorism that sometimes pushes the NGO to gather information, or put NGO's into a tricky situation with the actors in the field. So it could refrain from using those clauses, or very explicitly I would say that NGO's are exempt from those clauses that would be a very simple concrete proposition that would show a good will, a real willingness for the humanitarian system to be more principled.
Nuran Higgins: Â Â Â Â Â Â Excellent, I think all of those points are really really valid ones. Let's hope that we do at least see a move towards a commitment from some of those suggestions that you've made.
Rebecca Maudling: Â Â Â I think Pauline's point around the counter-terrorism legislation is really interesting. I believe in some countries there are exclusions for humanitarian organizations, but I think its really something that needs to be addressed, because it does impatience for humanitarian access, which we are seeing. It is impeding access to populations in need. I think also I would like to see something to come out of the World Humanitarian Summit around the strengthening of compliance mechanisms with international humanitarian law. It's great that we have these rules around the conduct of war but they are of little use if they are not able to be fully enforced. I'd like to see states committing to as part of that respect in humanitarian action in ensuring that its not appropriated for the litigious. And also consequences of states that block humanitarian access to populations in need. But as part as their needs to be commitment to humanitarian organizations to hold up their side of the bargain and they are operating with the respect for the humanitarian principles in order to not violate the trust that operating with those principles should bring.
 Nuran Higgins:       In his report for the world humanitarian summit, the United Nations Secretary General highlights "Even wars have limits, minimizing human suffering and protecting civilians requires strengthening compliance with international law" which is something you have both highlighted. Now we are looking over the last year alone and it is fair to say that the most pressing issue to be facing the humanitarian effort is at large today sits under the core responsibilities of upholding the norms that safeguard humanity.
For example, MÊdecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the last year alone had 75 of their hospitals bombed, including the Kunduz airstrike attack trauma hospital in Afghanistan where 42 people were killed including 12 MSF staff members. Now alongside this, there continues to be indiscriminate attacks and killings inflicted on civilians and deliberate denial of humanitarian assistance in countries such as Syria, South Sudan and Yemen as well as Afghanistan as a tactic of war.
I guess what's most disturbing about this is that in spite of their being international legal frameworks in place over the last 150 years, examples such as this are not in isolation today, which illustrates a frightening trend. The very foundation of international humanitarian law, human rights, and refugee law, along with our shared values and norms that drive humanitarian action, is very much at risk of being threatened if we do not act now. Â More than ever, we need to stand together to fight against impunity, which in turn threatens axis to populations in need of assistance.
So I guess taking into account this critical issue, do you feel the approach taken at the summit has been sufficient or have we lost in fact, a key opportunity to re-enforce the importance of the shared responsibility and accountability and if so what is needed to reaffirm the commitment and obligation to respect and protect medical personnel and facilities as well as humanitarian aide workers against attacks, threats or other violent acts.
 Rebecca Maudling:    Within the upholding the norms, round table, there are commitments that speak to promoting and honing an original international humanitarian law. However, my feeling is that this is a highly (political) round table event andâŚnot very tangible actions (will emerge). For me the detail will come with a certain commitment from the some of the state holds and once their announcements become importance for the humanitarian community placed on the system. So for now I think its quite hard to sayâŚ.
 Pauline Chetcuti:      Yes. I think it is the real issue of the World Humanitarian Summit and if I say its the fact that the states have not been in the advocacy table or been in the summit from the beginning is probably one reason for the situation that we are seeing right now. We know that IHL is the responsibility of the states ultimately, and the summit not being that clear on the outcomes, nor on how we are going to monitor and implement (each) different commitment which are going to be made during the summit. It's not really helpful in making sure that those commitments are going to be implemented. The P5 states are not all going to the summit. It's a shame that the P5 are not at the table. We wish that states that are directly or indirectly linked to balancing of humanitarian law were there to discuss their issues, the up cycles they teach or implementing of IHL so that we would actually work together to find ways for humanitarian system to work properly. I hope that in the event that the problem with IHL will better address the UNGA or another moment which would be more convenient in the event.
 Nuran Higgins: In his report for the world humanitarian summit, Untied Nations Secretary General highlights even wars have limits, minimizing human suffering and protecting civilians requires strengthening compliance with international law.  Looking over the last year alone and it is fair to say that the most pressing issue facing the humanitarian sector and the world in large is very much inline with the importance of addressing the core responsibilities of upholding the norms that safeguard humanity.
Now in spite of humanitarian organizations increasing (their) sophistication over the last decade in the area of security management, the number of aide workers killed, injured and kidnapped and been exposed to sexual violence has continued to rise over the years. According to the last aid workersâ security reports from Humanitarian Outcomes in 2014, 329 aid workers were victims of major attacks which occurred mainly in Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria and Central Africa Republic.
Also numbers have shown a slight decline in 2013 which has been in decline for nearly a decade. The decline in 2014 is argued to be a result of reduction of operation presence and not necessarily a reduction in incidents. One of the major concerning trends most notable is the risk to national staff, which today make up a bigger proportion of fatalities and kidnapping victims among the affected aide victim community around the world.
Now alongside this issue such as legal and ethical responsibility to national starve need to be considered as well. Similar to other areas discussed today protection of aid workers has definitely been high on the agenda of both (your) organizations, and aid workers have (been) advocating tirelessly (for its inclusion at the Summit).
We are looking at what has evolved in the advocacy up to the summit it's fair to say that it has been extremely disappointing to see how little attention has been given. However, on the other side of the same coin, a special session has been assigned around the collection of journalists in crisis situations.
When looking at statistics according to the committee to protect journalists there's no denying that the situation effecting journalists is just appalling. Â In 2015, 72 journalists killed working in humanitarian crisis. Given the grave situation also surrounding the urgent need of protection of aid workers who continue to be increasingly exposed to violent attacks by all parties, why do you think it has not been included on the agenda? What do you feel are the most pressing issues that require urgent attention in action, concerning staff safety and security of aide workers at the Summit.
Pauline Chetcuti:      I think for me there are reasons that I would highlight firstly, given the brutality many are faced with conflicts ...  However, my concern is that local aid workers aren't simply supported with their ability to adequately manage (being in a conflict) and this is a key issue for me, especially with the push of localization of humanitarianism response we're seeing at the summit. For me, the global community has a responsibility for the neighboring (local) organization to access the support they need. Communicative care is another area which I feel the United Nations and NGOs needs to be looking at closely. To make sure they are meeting their obligationsâŚ. This is just something being brought sharply into focus as a result of Steve Dennis case.
So thirdly, another aspect for me is that organizations take a holistic approach to safety and security and by that I mean an approach that acknowledges that safety and security and physical and psychological well-being are interlocked⌠That the psychological impact (of) humanitarian work is acknowledged and it is in the best appropriate place within the organization. There is individual responsibility for safety, security, and well-being but there's another to be supported by an organizations and that this is something I feel very strongly about.
Two things, first, the actual community as a whole hasn't been facilitating ensuring safety and security for international staff, and in particular, national staff.  And that we do need to take a holistic approach to the discussion of their safety and security. If we take this issue very seriously, and sadly we been touched very badly when we had 17 of our staff killed in Sri Lanka in 2016âŚ10 years agoâŚ. The impunity around those crimes is something that is very important to ACFâŚ.
I welcome the new resolution from the United Nations condoningâŚall attacks on medical personnelâŚ.
[The next part of the audio transcript from Pauline Chetcuti was partly inaudible. In this part of the audio show Pauline describes the reasons why ASF advocates for the creation of a UN Special Procedure for the protection of aid workers and in particular national staff.  A UN Special Advisor or Rapporteur would be âcharged with raising awareness, investigating violations and intervening in emergency situations. The Special Advisor or Rapporteur is an independent expert, impartial, non-remunerated and the only individual wholly dedicated to the issue of a more protected humanitarian community.â
âOver the past 15 years, more than 3000 humanitarian aid workers have been killed, kidnapped or injured while doing their job alongside populations weakened by war, armed conflict or natural catastrophes.As humanitarian actors, we accept a certain level of risk in our work. Knowledge and practice of the humanitarian principles help to limit violent incidents but are not always sufficient by themselves to protect the delivery of humanitarian assistance. 329 people were victims of attacks in 20142, mainly in Afghanistan, Syria but also in South Sudan in the Central African Republic and in Pakistan.The majority of victims were local staff and their deaths have been forgotten.Â
These attacks often happen in countries where the government is unstable and unable to provide justice. ACF rejects the impunity that too often follows an attack on aid workers or humanitarian facilities. These crimes constitute an unacceptable attack on our shared values and the norms that safeguard humanity. They are not an inevitable consequence of war, but represent a failure of parties to conflict to respect and facilitate neutral and principled humanitarian action, which is their obligation under IHL, and a failure of the international community to speak out and demand accountability for the perpetrators of these crimes.
Action contre la Faim has always been concerned by the protection of its aid workers. But on 4th August 2006, 17 ACF staff were lined up in their office and summarily executed. They were bringing relief to the population around Muttur, a town in north-east Sri Lanka. Those responsible for this crime have never been brought to justice, and we have continued to speak out against the unacceptable vulnerability of national aid workers in many humanitarian settings.â
Action Contre la Faim
Nuran Higgins: Â Â Â Â Â Â I think for me it would definitely be great to see something such as that put in place and I think that that would just put a totally different layer of accountability in place that has been lacking and as a result we continue to see acts of impunity. I'm keen to see what comes out of the World Humanitarian Summit with regards to the call for action that ACF has put out there. I hope there is solidarity amongst the humanitarian community to get behind this because I think if we look at the evidence we see we're all effected. It's not a particular organization, it is reaching all of us and if we don't stand together in raising our voices as a collective community then we run the risk of continuing to go around in circles with this.
Rebecca Maudling:  I don't completely understand why that some of (these issues on aid worker security) has not attained...moreâŚimportance within the summit. There's numerous calls from even the UN General Assembly for a better focus on this issue.
Pauline Chetcuti: Â Â Â Â Â We also worked with a group of advocates globally to submit a proposal for a side event on this due which would turn down. As we mentioned it is that in broad terms in the round table event but given the high level nature of this, the focus is very much on responsibilities of states and IHL and it again it remains a tangible action that is going to come of these. I think I would have liked to see some succession along the lines of the general session that you mentioned. And again I feel that healthcare workers seemed to have gained prominence in World Humanitarian Summit than say, humanitarian, because generally they are really in grave need of protection. But I believe that they share issues in something that is broader. In terms of why did this happen, I find it very hard to answer the question. Particularly because a resolution that some would specifically call for this issue to be on the agenda, so yes I do think that it is disappointing that it hasn't been given more (attention).
Nuran Higgins:  Now both of your organizations will be making sure that the issue of safety, security, and protection of aide workers remains visible and is not lost at the crowd at that summit which would be great for you to share with listenersâŚRebecca, ILS has established a stall together with the European Inter-agency Security Forum at the summit. Can you share with listeners the intention behind it and the commitments that you endorsed as well?
Rebecca Maudling: Â Â Â We're really excited about the opportunity to be at the summit and you feel it is an opportunity for us to raise the importance of this issue at the summit. Part of that is that we have an admissions store and we are participating with EISF which is an independent network of security focal points representing European based humanitarian organizations, and also with InterHealth WorldWide, who provide physical and psychological health support to humanitarian workers. We're beginning to get respected in areas of expertise and to on the security and welcoming aide workers and we will be showcasing products and initiatives to improve their safety and security and also their well-being.
Additionally, once I had heard that there was a Summit event that had been planned....I was really keen to make sure that there was a connection issue at the summit and try to increase the promise of it on the agenda. So as a result I approached the EISF with a view to developing commitments to support the core commitments of upholding the norms on the table.
And gathering with key speakers and holders to develop two commitments. The first was around supporting organizations to integrate holistic security risk management which favors on the physical and psychological well-being of all staff and this is due to make sure that impurity is not being seen as a modern or textbook psychological well being is not seen as a luxury.
The second commitment was developed to support, continued development in the best practice of security risk management, but that is to say risk management is appropriate andâŚ(it) enables the population in need (to be assisted) ⌠It (also) offers protection to all those involved in delivering humanitarian assistance whether it be international or national.
These commitments have been supported by a number of NGO management coordination bodies representing security focal point s of approximately 145 organizations working in 129 countries is key that they called in the Humanitarian Security Risk Management Committee with awakening to hear that we feel that it was important for these commitments and have them on the agenda at World Humanitarian Summit.
 Nuran Higgins:       Thanks so much for sharing that Rebecca, and I think that it will be really useful for people to at least get an understanding around what actions are still taking place regardless of whether there has been limited inclusion within the agenda.  ACF has put a call out for action on the protection of aide workers, can you share with listeners what was the turning point behind ACF making the decision to launch this critically important campaign?
 Pauline Chetcuti: ⌠The reason why (at) the Summit (ACF) has decided to step up in engagement with the protection aid workers is based on a true event. The incident that happened with ACF 10 years ago has had a very deep effect on the organization. Just to recall what happened 10 years ago; we had 17 national staff killed in Sri LankaâŚand despite all our efforts, nobody has been put in jail. So the impunity with this crime happened really affected the need for a better community commission situation. Aid workers when they face such violence and the threat of that there is  international instability for a better respect and protection for aid workers...
We decided to launch a campaign (for) .. better protection for all civilians and...national aid workers.....
Nuran Higgins: Â Â Â Â Â Â I don't know how to finish up on that, but it's such an important issue and something very close to my heart as well. Being a very strong advocate across all levels of the importance to recognize the challenging environment that national staff are under. Not only over the last decade, but the continuing position that they are under. I put out a call out to listeners as the importance to us as you mentioned come together in solidarity to ensure that this not become the norm, it should never and we need to ensure that we make our voices loud and clear that it will not become the norm.
On that note, I would like to say, Pauline and Rebecca, thank you so much for taking the time to join us here on Emergency Aidio and sharing your thoughts and personal reflection on such an important and complex area affecting the humanitarian sector to listeners here today.
Rebecca Maudling: Â Â Â Thank you, Nuran for having us on Emergency AIDio, it was a pleasure to discuss this very important issue of humanitarian safety and security.
PaulineChetcuti: Â Â Â Â Â Thank you, Nuran, it's been a pleasure and thank you for highlighting these issues on aid worker security
Nuran Higgins: So we've come to the end of today's show and our World Humanitarian Summit two-day special. Our thanks to our guests today Pauline and Rebecca for joining us on today's show and sharing with us their personal perspectives on the importance of valuing safety, security, and protection of aide workers.
A special thanks goes out again to all our guests that have contributed to the two-day World Humanitarian Summit special. Your thoughts and perspectives surrounding these challenging issues facing the humanitarian sector have been invaluable...Â
To learn more about ACF's call for action for the protection of aid workers visit http://protectaidworkers.org to find out more.
To learn more about International Location Safety and the work they are doing around the area of safety and security risk management visit:Â http://www.locationsafety.comÂ
Conversations About Aid Worker Wellness with Aid Workers
Over the course of the World Humanitarian Summit, Emergency AIDio released two shows focusing on aid worker wellness. In the first show host Nuran Higgins discusses the critical challenges surrounding mental health, sexual violence and wellbeing of aid workers with four unique guests: Amy Brathwaite, Director of the documentary "Kick at the Darkness;â Megan Nobert, founder of Report the Abuse campaign; Amandine Roche, peacemaker and founder of Amanuddin in Afghanistan; and Samara Andrade, humanitarian and yoga teacher supporting aid workers in the field.
The following is a transcript of the audio show, which is posted here with the kind permission of The Healthy Nomad Emergency AIDio; âthe first independent international broadcasting community for aid workers. Emergency AIDio is focused on connecting aid workers around the globe to discuss the issues that shape our lives; and enjoy music with a purpose to strengthen the human dimension back into life. â Â
Nuran: Hi everyone. It's Nuran Higgins, and you're listening to Emergency AIDio. The community space that's all about connecting aid workers to discuss real issues that shape our lives. The World Humanitarian Summit kicks off today with the first day of the two-day summit in Istanbul, Turkey. And  as quoted by the Secretary General, "The core aim of the summit is to  propose solutions to our most pressing challenges, and to set an agenda to  keep humanitarian action fit for the future."
Now over the next two days of the summit we're going to be looking at some of the most significant issues effecting aid workers and  the humanitarian center, which have lacked the attention needed on the summit's agenda. Over the course of the extensive three-year consultative  process, more than 23,000 people in 153 countries were engaged in dialogue  opening up the opportunity to better understand the major challenges facing the world, which should be commended as moving these issues forward which  hold deep meaning to us all is no easy feat in the best of times.
Now it's important for us to not get caught up, I believe, in the circle of criticism, of what hasn't been achieved from our expectations, but instead to focus on keeping it real, what has been achieved to date, and continuing to hold those to account by asking those hard  questions of them moving the issues forward. Because the reality we all know too well is that these complex issues will take time. But, if we remember  that from small steps comes change, then the journey is worth it in the end.
So, what has been the result of the consultative process in shaping the current focus and direction of the summit's agenda? And, in  particular health and well-being of aid workers. And how have these critical issues been translated into essential commitments required in bringing about  real action to deal with the complexities of the changing humanitarian landscape? And, what major concerns remain for humanitarian organizations and  aid workers taking into account the summit's agenda and direction? And  lastly, why have certain issues been prioritized while others silenced?
Now in opening up the first day of the World Humanitarian Summit special, which will be focused on health and well-being  of aid workers we have with us a great lineup of guests, which include Amy Brathwaite, Megan Nobert, Amandine Roche, and Samara Andrade. Â
I wanted to send a huge thanks to all the guests for contributing to the two-day World Humanitarian Summit special. And, standing  together in solidarity to talk about these critical issues that effect all of us as aid workers around the world. But most importantly, I'm extremely  grateful for all the love and support provided to me during this time. Now over the last week and a half, I must say it hasn't been easy in trying to  balance my work and pulling the show together in such a short period of time while in the field.
But interestingly at the same time I've felt a sense of  coming full circle while being back here in Afghanistan. As, it's here, years  ago, my initial dream of creating Emergency AIDio, a space that as aid  workers we could be connected while in the field to discuss real issues that  effect our lives came from. Now, over the course of pulling this show  together I've felt moments of frustration, anger, disappointment, and  sadness, reflecting on how the human side of aids workers has been ignored across  the summit's agenda, which has been a complete contrast against the engaging and open process led during the global consultations. But at the same time  I've also felt moments of hope, determination, and a sense of gratitude from the solidarity and positive mindset offered by like-minded aid workers and  committed humanitarian organizations.
As aid workers, this really is a significant moment in time for us. We have two choices that future generations will look back and  question us, what did we do? We can either choose to continue to exist as complicit actors of inaction, knowing very well it contravenes against the very principals and values we hold true to our core. Or instead, we can choose to not be silent, be brave, and ask from those in power the difficult questions, and hold them to account.
The summit has been seen as a pivotal moment in humanitarian history to have the most pressing issues effecting aid workers raised, and brought to the table for high level decision makers to address tangible commitments for action. And looking back I believe this vision has been easier said than done, and to open this up for discussion I'd like to welcome our first guess on today's show, Amy Brathwaite. Thanks so much for joining us here on Emergency AIDio to talk about this vital topic today.
Amy Brathwaite: Thanks very much for having me.
Nuran:  Over the 3 year period considerable efforts were made to  draw attention to the issues surrounding health, safety, security, and  protection of aid workers from a very strong contingent of global advocates  of aid workers, organizations, and media. Now the greatest demonstration of this commitment was definitely seen in the coming together of a global  coalition under the Be Well, Serve Well campaign, with a number of  submissions to participate in the summit through a side event, however all  were rejected.
Now, out of 112 side events available to raise attention to key humanitarian issues, only one spot was allocated focusing on the protection of healthcare workers, facilities, and patients. However in contrast, the very absence of a side event on the health and well-being of aid workers, in spite of the submissions presented, speaks volumes for how we in the sector value all aid workers in the big picture of humanitarianism. Â Which is disappointing and alarming at the same time.
With this being the result, has most certainly raised some critical questions as aid workers that we need to inquire further and request answers from those at the highest level in order to ensure that this is not swept under the rug. So bearing this in mind, what does such absence of this topic mean for national and international aid workers? What are the potential risks for the sector if we continue to ignore the voices of those on the frontline of humanitarian crises?
Amy Brathwaite: Â This is a discouraging thought I think for those international, and particularly national staff, whose very engagement with the work that helps serves the most vulnerable in their communities. They themselves can be at risk for attack, or for death, or for injury. The shift in the landscape of the humanitarian sector over the past 15 years, has seen an increase in the volatility of missions, the mingling of humanitarian military, and development agendas, which can blur the lines.
And a shift from the neutrality that the banner of the UN flag, or an INGO flag might offer as some sort of solace or protection to those, particularly national staff, there's an increased vulnerability, and  an even uh, risk of, of violence, that has shifted. So with the knowledge of these statistics, with the bombings that we're seeing happening of hospitals,  of the most vulnerable populations ... This absence really leaves quite a  painful void to the, to the families of those who, who have, who have lost  their lives in service.
To those who have lost colleagues, or, who have been  injured. It just leaves questions about, I suppose, the value of these people  themselves in delivering aid.  Humanitarian programming is enabled by the very staff who carry out and implement  projects. And without speaking to their value, how do we, how do we leave these staff feeling supported and, and with the knowledge that what they do  matters and that their lives matter in service.
Nuran: As, as part of that global coalition that put forward submission for a side even to highlight the attention of aid worker health  and well-being at the World Humanitarian Summit, having gone through that process from the beginning of the engaging global consultation to then see  the end result, given the fact that there was so much recognition across the media over the last three years. There have been a number of events which  have solidified the importance of this issue. How did you feel coming out of that process with the efforts that had been put through by everyone, knowing  the importance of this issue?
Amy Brathwaite: Truthfully, I felt, I felt quite discouraged when we  were initially informed that we were not going to be participating. However, where I've taken my solace and my hope has been from the very process of  engaging, and the development of this global coalition of aid workers. You know, over a series of weeks, we coordinated global, global calls with people in  Bangkok, and London, and, and Canada, and Australia. We engaged people, many of whom had never met each other.  This dedication, this drive, and this advocacy, either  having been active in workers or connected in some way to the sector, there  was this drive in dedication to recognize, acknowledge, and communicate some  of the challenges and risks faced by all aid workers. So, that is where I  drew a huge amount of optimism from. And, even the process of trying to  participate in the summit, that there was a sort of a sense of exclusion,  maybe from more of my personal experience, as I'm not currently in the  sector.
But we haven't been successful in the sense of presenting at the summit itself, but the connections, the global advocacy,  the output of tangible support mechanisms that can help and serve those currently on the frontlines, the network that will continue outside and  beyond this summit. That's, there's a lot of encouragement. I guess it's a reminder of what people can achieve with a bit of dedication and a few  resources.
 It reminds me of this quote by Margaret Mead, she's a famous Canadian, and she says that:
"Never doubt that a small group of  thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world." "Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."Â
 So, while there's a level of disappointment, that we're not participating,  that's where I take, take encouragement from. Is what I have seen, from the inception of my documentary, "Kick at the Darkness," which tried to penetrate the  silence around this issue of, of mental health and well-being, and to see that conversation go from one of shattering silence to now this global level  of engagement with stakeholders who are actively developing tools and resources for those in the field to specifically support the mental health  and well-being, I think is extraordinary.
I think that while this too is a reminder that while we may not be visible and present at a very important and unprecedented summit that doesn't stop the engagement with ourselves, with the community and network of aid workers, and it doesn't stop the advocacy moving forward. And we are in connection with all of- with our colleagues, and there's that real opportunity to, to have this message transcend regardless of whether or not there's high level engagement.
Nuran:  You know, given the fact that we have not been able to  participate at the summit through a side event, what concrete actions would  you like to see established at the summit by the humanitarian sector as a  declaration of its commitment towards the duty of care and protection of its  most valuable asset, it's people?
Amy Brathwaite: I think that's where a bit of the discouragement comes in again.  Because I think it should be there! It should be acknowledged. Our staff are our most vital asset! There's a complexity and multitude of issues facing the humanitarian development sector that is  undeniable. There are complexities in the world that are challenging us in  ways that we are still navigating; but I do feel it's a tremendously missed  opportunity to not have a sliver of time at the agenda to say the people that  implement the program, that save the lives, that intervene with, with  shelter, with water, with access, with, with search and rescue, with gender  advocacy, with all of the important, every single facet of humanitarian work  is, is woven together by the very people from the nation's in which we serve.
We, I feel it is a missed opportunity not to have a moment to acknowledge and highlight the importance of, of their lives in this work. We're all impacted. We all have a friend. We all have a colleague. We all know somebody that's been either killed, or injured, or traumatized, or faced tremendous strain in their work. And we need to know that those who make the decisions that impact our lives feel that our lives matter in our duty of service.
Nuran: Very much agree with that wholeheartedly. I guess looking ahead post the World Humanitarian Summit, what do you think is the most single important thing that we could do to improve the sector's overall  commitment towards valuing aid workers when looking from a more holistic approach that sees security, health, and well-being much more aligned?
Amy Brathwaite: I think you know that there is a level of dedication among the coalition that's going to continue to push this issue forward. And within this coalition there are a number of stakeholders who examine this issue holistically. What this coalition represents is a multidimensional, and multifaceted, and holistic approach to the protection, the well-being, and  the mental health of aid workers. We have a diverse, uh, and engaged group of stakeholders that are dedicated and driven to continue to push this agenda.
And the fact that you are in Afghanistan, and taking the  time in addition to your, to your work, to put together a podcast that will  be broadcast as the the summit is unfolding, I think that's our way of being  sort of the, the rogue advocates of saying, you know, we weren't, we weren't  able to participate, but we want our voices to be heard, and we're doing it  with diplomacy, and we're doing it with hard driving questions, because we  believe in the work, and we believe in serving the most vulnerable. We believe in the morals and the principals that guide us, and we just want to  feel that we're supported in that. So while we may not be at the table. I think again it goes back to what is possible when a few committed people come together.
 We can, we can ride alongside, you know, what is a two-day summit, and we can carry the momentum from that rejection almost to say you  know, we weren't part of this two-day summit, but moving much beyond into the future, for our generation of aid workers, and for those that follow us, what  are the legacies that we can leave?
Nuran: Definitely!
Amy Brathwaite: In our wake. And that is what has come as a result of this group; this coalition coming together. There's a drive. There's an engagement. And, and, and, we're  driving by the exclusion to say okay we're not at this table, but you're going to hear us bang our, bang our drum.
Nuran: I love it.
Nuran: Amy. Thanks so much for taking the time to join us here on Emergency AIDio, and share your thoughts with the listeners on the  important issues surrounding aid worker health and well-being. It's been inspiring just listening. Now, if you want to check out Amy's documentary, "Kick at the Darkness," and I would suggest if you haven't, then  you need to get over to the website. You can find out more about the documentary at amybrathwaite.com, but also she has amazing photography there as well, which just shows the diversity of how we can explore the issue of  aid worker health and well-being in so many different ways, which is really exciting.
Amy Brathwaite: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Nuran: Over the past 15 years more than 3,000 humanitarian aid workers have been killed, kidnapped, or wounded as a result of doing their job. A recent survey conducted by the Global Development Professional Network on mental health and well-being of aid workers revealed that 79% of aid workers had experienced mental health issues, and with 93% affirming that such experiences were as a result of their work in the aid sector. I'd like to welcome our next guests on the show, Amandine and Samara. Thanks so much for joining us here on Emergency AIDio today.
Samara Andrade: Thanks for having me.
Amandine Roche: Thank you for inviting us.
Nuran: Now there's no secret that as aid workers we find ourselves subjected to high levels of stress working in complex and insecure environments. However, that being said, it should in no way release humanitarian organizations of their responsibility to provide a healthy, safe, and secure environment for their staff. But generally the provision of psychological support for aid workers is still quite sporadic, with some organizations offering support, and when considering the quality, it also tends to vary between organizations.
 But for the majority of organizations, a lack of resources has long been the argument behind preventing the implementation of specific health and well-being practices and measures for aid workers. However, this could be strongly disputed today when taking into account the growing contingent of advocates around the globe working in parallel to organizations that are proving otherwise by pushing the boundaries of the way  we look at aid worker health and well-being through the development of  simple, innovative solutions.
So this begs the question, why does it matter? And, why is there so much resistant at the highest level to act on the mental health, well-being, and protection of aid workers? Because failing to do so is negligent, and essentially contravenes the very notion of humanitarianism.
Samara Andrade: I think that there's a couple things. The first is that, yes there are lots of innovations in the field of working around psycho-social support to staff, and as you mentioned, a lot of innovative  work in the area. I think on one hand it can be not necessarily a resistance,  but it can be a lack of um, funding, that's dedicated to this topic. Whether that is the funding sources that come in for programming externally from  donors, or within the organizations.
I also would say that I think that in places I've personally worked, that there has been really an attention to look at how to  best support staff. I will say, in the high threat context where I've worked, I've been extremely impressed with country directors responding, and not only  after critical incidents, but also in regular time, just recognizing the amount of staff stress and burnout. Um, and the need to access resources.
I do think that often programs like peer to peer support counseling are often under utilized, and I think there's mainly, what I've seen in the field, a lack of sufficient resources dedicated to the area who  can both provide the service, but also coordinate and run it. And I think that normalization of the topic is really important in our staffing.
And I do think that that's one contributing area, is that there is this stigma about discussing those issues, in general. I would say say in the general public, let alone in our sector, more specifically. And I think that that stigma is not only something that comes from higher levels, because I actually do believe that higher levels are more aware of this issue, and how it effects staff, even if it's from an area staff  performance, but it's also very much from staff on the ground.
And, I think there's a general culture of, well you chose this field, or you chose this work, or you accepted this posting in this high threat context. You knew what you were getting into. Or, just the  kind of down playing of what the effects actually are. There's often this kind of out rigging of different postings. Oh, well that's not so bad as this  posting, et cetera, and I think that's really a disservice to us together collectively. Because then we downplay what the effects of psycho-social care, mental health, well-being are.
I would also say that on the well-being side, personally having taught yoga and meditation in a number of postings, I have not faced resistance to offering those classes. What I've seen is that the community really comes together. There's often not classes that are paid for or organized by organizations themselves, but quite frequently they're more  aid workers themselves who are actually taking the initiative, recognizing  the importance of these, of these services as positive ways to deal with  stress, as ways to form another community, um, that's beyond your social  circle, or beyond your work circle. And I will say that the value from that really I've seen be quite profound. And, it speaks to me that I'll still get emails from students from different places that I've taught who speak to that.
And that's really prompted, I think, my interest in looking at how do we map these classes globally? Both that aid workers themselves are teaching, but also that are just available, because then it  can be something that's a resource, where people can really be able to look  up and say, I'm working in this location, what are the different types of  wellness activities available to me? Whether it's fitness, whether it's more mindfulness practices, or other forms of work.
And similarly I think it would be much more helpful that workers know when they come to a duty station where they can access counseling and psycho-social support services, whether it's only in-country, where that compound is, is it somewhere that they can easily access? Does it have to only be accessed during work hours? Can it be after work hours? Is there remote support? Et cetera ...
And then I think on the more protection side, you know, the, the issue and the idea of strengthening risk assessments, and risk management, and looking at that while still recognizing the importance of  reaching beneficiaries. So not wanting to go totally into things like remote  managements, and pull back from communities, but really weighing those with  improving how we look at security and management of risks.
Amandine Roche:  Well I do believe that valuing the human side of  humanitarian really matters, and it's even a question of integrity, because who are you to serving the world, if you are not at peace with yourself  first, and if you are completely broken, burnout, depressed, anxious, it's  better you stay at home, otherwise you will harm more the community you came  to serve. It's true in the word humanitarian there is the word human, and what does it mean to be human?
And it means to be connected with your mind, with your body, your spirit. To be in harmony. It's true that in the field I didn't  face any resistance to implement some uh, yoga meditations teachings to my peers, colleague, but I did face a lot of resistance at the highest level to  act on the mental health and well-being, and protection of aid workers, because for what I observe so far, they have their own agenda, their own  strategy, and, which the organization doesn't have enough staff in the field,  enough counselors to deal with this type of trauma, and so, which is  occurring to me a real lack of responsibility and conscious leadership.
Because we are on the 21st century, and I feel like so far the organization I have been working with are doing the politic of an  ostrich, and they do not want to see what's happening, but unfortunately letting the staff be under post-traumatic stress disorder, and keeping their  trauma for themselves really jeopardize any organization, and jeopardize also  the mission in the field.
 We can already observe so far the boomerang effect of that; of the fact that there is no common policy to move forward with a vision, and so what I observe is that yeah, the system is broken, and we need to change it. And, now because the policy so far us when you are broken, organizations prefer to change the aid worker, instead of trying to repair them. And why?  Because they say that it's, for instance in my case with United Nations, they say that it's so many people who want to work for, to join United Nation, and the waiting list is so long. So, if you are not efficient any more, somebody can replace you, but we are lacking the emotional intentions, and we are  lacking the human part in this type of policy.
Definitely something needs to be done, especially at the highest level. One recommendation is to design a strategy on a new policy of how to deal with mental health when, before, during, and after the missions.
Nuran:  I think what's interesting you know, listening to, to the points, and particularly coming back to the fact that if we look at the field level there is an acceptance or an interest to engage in wellness activities to support some of the challenges in which national and  international aid workers find themselves exposed to. Once we start to move from that, I guess grassroots space, to more where it involves decision makers, and budget line allocation, that is where we will start to see the first bottleneck, which was touched on briefly.
So, again, I guess coming to the next question of what are the most pressing concerns or barriers right now for humanitarians looking to seek access to mental health services, and other support to keep themselves healthy. We can't deny that the budget allocation has an implication for that. So, who makes those decisions comes up to that next level of how do you prioritize implementation of humanitarian activities over the very humanitarians that are actually responsible for delivering it? What, what have you seen, I guess looking at that sort of space? Are there barriers perhaps to accessibility or availability that we need to be considering in  the midst of all of these points that were raised?
Amandine Roche:  Well, so far what I have observed, working for 15 years with the United Nations and other international organization, there is definitely a lack of resources,  definitely. I have to admit that. There is not enough staff counselor at the headquarter and in the field. So there is a lack of budget also, and as they explained to me that, I think it was in 2009 at the general assembly, they reduced their budget. Unfortunately, there is a lack of policy. There is a lack of common vision. There's a lack of competency. And I'm sorry to say that, but  from what I've observed so far it's very, very poor staff counseling.
Like I've been working for 15 years with United Nation, and I've never ever received a training, for instance on what is mental  health, what is living under stressful environment, and what is, uh, how to keep you're well-being. And I would have loved to receive that before being sent  on a mission, or during the mission, or at least to have a follow up afterward. And I remember after the assassination of my colleague, two staff counselors came, came and and said, âwell you are lucky, because you survive  from the assassinations, so the best way now is to try and forget it. I'm very sorry to say it, but this, we are in the 21st century, and I do believe that's not the best way to counsel, and in to advise people when you face a trauma.
So, I do believe that what is the main barrier is, unlike the U.S. Army, there is not a Department of Veteran Affairs, maybe we need a Department of Wellness Affairs, for instance. And I believe this type of department should exist within any organization to really care from th beginning till the end of each staff member. So, I do believe that it's time now that any organization working in the humanitarian field must becomes aware that there are serious mental health issues among their staff, especially the staff that are on the frontline.
Amandine Roche: And it's time now that they become aware that their staff has suffered for too long, and they create this type of department, and  they develop a budget for that, and of course it'll require an agreement from  all the members there, so it will take times.
Samara Andrade: My perspectives are really on how does this system collectively look at pre-deployment, really preparing stuff in a different way.
I've worked in many emergencies. Â I don't think I've ever had a briefing or preparation where it comes to the types of stuff I'm going to be facing, the violence that may be around me. You know, the potential for being in attacks. Â How you cope with these things. I think all of these things, you know, what is the preparation. So that you go into it with better ideas and understanding, as well as better, better thinking about what coping mechanisms are.
And then I think of course it's during the mission what's accessible. And I would say that that can take many forms. You know, there are having counselors on site. And not just counselor on site for, for stress, critical stress andâŚ.but for, available for everyday. There are also, if that's something that is either the, the cost, the value of getting enough counselors, qualified people to work in these contexts perhaps, then it's  also having access to counselors by a phone call, being able to have Skype appointments, those types of services would be extremely helpful.
And I think something I touched on earlier. It's really the location of those services that they're, they're offered in-country. I know, for example, where counselors were about 45 minutes from where I actually worked, and only available during the daytime hours.
So to access the counselors you would need to obviously arrange transport, and a vehicle, and all these things. So, it was not as helpful. Now I have had myself helpful experiences with counselors. I do very much appreciate the access where I had access to it, particularly in dealing with a post-critical incident. I also think the issue of post-deployment is huge.
It's something that I after working in Afghanistan, and getting to know a number of different military colleagues, I must say I, as an American, I wish we had things like the Veteran Affairs system. Not that the VA system is functioning in the best way possible.
And I know there are many people, military and families who are unhappy with it. But when I look at what's available for the aid industry, once you leave the field, or you leave the job, which could even be because you're burnt out, it doesnât exist. I also think that this is tied to another issue, which is how do we look at staff who has worked in high threat level context for a while, how do we make sure that they rotate in and out sufficiently and have breaks. But, if you are choosing to leave the field location (i.e. end your contract) what access you have to those services. For most people once you end your contract you don't have insurance with that organization anymore.
So I think that's really a disservice, because as we know with issues with post-traumatic stress, those symptoms can arise far later than the immediate. Um, and I think when I, when I also look at what is the way in which you kind of debrief with people, um, when they are leaving a job, or leaving a mission. And I've never had like a post check in about mental health and well-being either. And so I think that there's really something fundamentally kind of missing, um, in how we look at those 3 areas. And I would say also that for a national staff this equally important.
Nuran: Yes
Samara: For national staff it's very important that we look at what is the effect (of aid work) has on them, who often are put in more critical incident areas than even international workers.
Nuran:  Looking ahead, post World Humanitarian Summit, what do you think is the single most important thing that we could do to improve the  sectors overall commitment towards valuing aid workers when looking from a more holistic approach that sees security, health, and well-being much more  aligned?
Amandine Roche: The best thing to do is to improve the sectors overall is to develop this type of training, and by doing that, uh, maybe at the beginning, we could maybe um, collect different testimony showing that all  people, all humanitarian work, being on the frontline and filed for so many  years do require uh, this type of training, because they are being sent to  war zone, and conflict country, which are among the most challenging work environment. And the studies prove, the recent survey from UNHCR proves that more than half of the staff that come back from these type of missions suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and burnout, which can lead to alcoholism or life long dependency on antidepressants. And again, PTSD is not a sign of weakness, but at least you know.
You need to know how to recognize the symptom of that. And, it's true, if UN, other organization staff try to numb themselves and push their memory away, the post-traumatic stress disorder will only intensify. So, I feel like the fact that so far we avoid facing the reality, which will ultimately harm the staff relationship, and their ability to work, and the quality of their life, and so there will be unhealthy, unhappy, and completely unable to fulfill their mission in their  field.
So, I believe, as I mentioned before, and Samara mentioned it as well, that in order to prevent, and to help any humanitarian to deal with that, um, it's really crucial now that they receive a tool to cultivate their type of mind. Really, I do believe we need to focus on these type of missions- I mean of training, before being sent on mission, during the mission, and follow-up afterward. And, and, and, and, and, I do believe in this case what is the most important that all humanitarians, and that the organization agree on that, and uh, put a budget on that, and focus on their well-being.
And, and, so, and inside you, you learn more on resilience, on empathy, on, on um, and also on stress⌠So it's more so a type of stress management and mental health training where you understand the stress rate, the response, what is the amygdala hijack, for instance, and it's role as fight and flight. Our understanding the holistic approach of the different stress factor, or what, how does stress express itself through the body and the mind, and what are the different pathological expression of stress, or how to prevent stress, how stress effects our environment. Definitely (this sort of training) will help a lot the humanitarian serving in the frontline.
Samara: What Amandine says is very important. And I think that one thing she said, hit me on the head, this idea of knowledge is power, I think is huge. If you understand as a staff member, in any organization, what is the science and the brain implication, the body implication of being in a high stress environment. This idea of having the sympathetic nervous system activated consistently. Then I think with that knowledge, then you have choices to make. It's always going to be everyone's choice what, what you do in that situation, but having that knowledge is key, and having access to, to different ways to deal with that stress I think is key.
When you asked, though, about kind of 1 thing, the single most important thing we can do at this time to look at this, you know, it's sort of difficult, because there's so many things. I think that what I would say is I would really like to see that where we have in donor contributions, and where we have in project design, that there is actually a line item. So this is built into what's given.
Samara: It's a certain percentage that goes towards this work, and I think that with that, that allows this space for organizations to properly begin to staff, and bring in the right resources on this, and look  at how do they really build a program that can best meet the needs of a staff before, during, and after. I do think with some of the issues where you're talking about insurance and duty of care after. I think that really requires collective work, together. So whether that looks at a kind of global fund that's put together. You know, I think there are different models that  have been discussed about, and so I think that's really something that's a collective solution. I don't think it's a problem one organization, or two organizations can solve individually. I think it requires a collective look at this, but I think a good first step would be that donor contributions and projects have a percentage built in to address these issues. And then the rest is, is really bringing in the appropriate resources to, to design fully what this looks like in terms of support before, during, and after.
And of course I think that the CHS, you know the Core Humanitarian Standards on this, this topic, would be a, a wonderful way to look at a positive collectivization system for organizations. Or sort of like who has the seal of really implementing this? What's the criteria of really complying with that core commitment. And that could even be done by say an external auditing firm looking at if there's an agreed, I would say status, across the sector. What are the things that are the components of this?
Then you can have an external- al- um, looking at each organization, and giving a sort of seal, let's say. Like yes, this organization is meeting these standards. An I think that's and indication for humanitarian aid workers more probably just to know which organizations are really implementing this commitment, and what they're doing. So, positively incentivize organizations to really demonstrate their, their action on this area.
And I also think you could even explore things like having an index of which organizations are doing the best in this field. And that could be something that's published, you know, on a regular basis, an annual basis. Just as we have indexes for all kinds of things. And I really think looking at positive collectivization structures for the sector, and mechanisms to come together collectively for, for a change on this topic, is really where I'd like to see things move in the future.
Nuran: Amandine and Samara, thanks so much for taking time to join us here on Emergency AIDio, and to share your thoughts surrounding aid worker health and well-being. Now, to find out more about Amandine's work as a peace maker in this sector, and her foundation in Afghanistan, head over to  www.amandineroche.com to learn more. And to find out about the work that Samara is doing with aid workers around yoga, head over to yogamara.org to find out more.
Samara: Pleasure to be here today, and um, and support this topic.
Amandine Roche: Thank you very much, Nuran, for inviting us.
Nuran: Up next we'll be hearing from our last guest on today's show. Megan, thanks so much for joining us here on Emergency AIDio today.
Megan Nobert: Thank you very much for having me on.
Nuran: In order for us as aid workers to deliver effective principled humanitarian action, it's fundamental that we take care of ourselves, but also that our organization care for us too by providing a safe  and protected environment, and ensuring we're not exposed to unnecessary risks. There has been increasing media attention of the issue surrounding sexual violence across the humanitarian sector. And according to the aid worker security database, just 15 cases of incidents of sexual violence against aid workers have been reported since 2005. And of these cases, the majority were against international aid workers.
Now, the Headington Institute believe that sexual violence is widely under reported due to personal, cultural, and organizational complexities. In taking such factors into account they estimate that at least 2% or more of humanitarian aid workers have experienced sexual violence. Now with approximately 400,000 aid workers worldwide, this would suggest that sexual violence has directly effected between 4,000 to 8,000 aid workers, which is a frightening concern. Now taking this into account, what do you see are the main barriers limiting support provided to aid workers that have experienced sexual violence?
Megan Nobert: So, there are a couple of different big barriers. I think the biggest problem is that we don't acknowledge that this is a problem, and part of that is because we don't know how big the problem is. Â You know the Headington Institute is suggesting that it's between say 4,000 to 8,000 uh aid workers. Well part of the problem with that number is that- I mean, it's, it's a large number. It's a scary number, but actually I think it's probably, realistically a lot higher. Because you have to look at what is defined as sexual violence. I think that's actually the first problem, is how are people defining sexual violence?
When I consider sexual violence I look at it, the whole spectrum. You know, you're going from sexual harassment in the office, you know, the, the cat calls, the little comments that make you uncomfortable, to you know, the touching, the back rubs, you know, the arm rubs that you know, Â make you go a little squirrelly inside. All the way up to, you know, attempted sexual assaults, to actual sexual assaults, and rape. If you're looking at the huge spectrum of sexual assault incidents, I think that numbers are considerably higher. Um, so there's that problem. We don't know what is the, you know, what is the landscape of sexual violence in the humanitarian industry. And without knowing that it is difficult to say a), that it's a problem, and b), Â how big of a problem it is.
So we can begin to start addressing it. I think the other problem is that, so we're not, obviously ... acknowledging that it is a problem. That's obviously a big barrier, because it, when we say that it isn't a problem, it makes people who have experienced sexual violence feel that what has happened to them is either a one-off thing, therefore something not to be complained about. But it makes them feel isolated.
Nuran: And so why do you think there is such a barrier within this, the sector to acknowledge that there is a problem with sexual violence?
Megan Nobert: I think part of the issue is that we're scared to admit that it could be a problem. It's one of those things where, when you acknowledge it, that means that you could be at risk, and I think that there's a real sort of mental barrier for a lot of humanitarian aid workers.
Because you don't want to think of yourself as being at danger for that. We're at danger for so many things within this sector. And I mean you've talked to folks about this before, and you're talking about this with other individuals in the podcast. We're at risk for so many things, then sexual violence is just another thing to add onto the list. Um, and it's scary, you know. It's, and it's also part of the issue is that, I mean, for example we know that date rape drugs are happening in the humanitarian aid industry. Not in all countries, but South Sudan, for example, has been identified as a bit of a hot spot for drug rings.
And that's something that you wouldn't expect when you're working as a humanitarian aid workers. You know, it's something you'd expect at a bar back home, you know, you'd never leave your drink unattended kind of a thing. But it's not necessarily something that you would expect when you're in the field. It's an unanticipated risk.
Nuran: And so thinking about that, and the, the implications that that has on an aid worker that is exposed, what do you see being the overlapping areas between mental health and sexual violence? Is there any, in fact? Because, eh, I think, you know, part of the, the big problem is that we can often have a tendency to look at singling these issues into a box, but in  actual fact there are so many elements of where they're interwoven. The issue of mental health in itself is one that is isolated, and as you said there are  so many issues. You know, are there areas of overlap between mental health and sexual violence that we can draw on in understanding how to deal with  the, you know, potential solutions moving forward?
Megan Nobert: Absolutely. I think it's you know, sexual violence and mental health are both issues which, we have to look at them in isolation. There are so many factors which are allowing both of these things to become problems. Take, for example, sexual violence. We know that there's an aid worker mental health crisis going on right now; burnout, and PTSD, eh, either we're talking about it more, or they appear to actually be increasing. It's hard to say. From my perspective I do think that we're actually increasing in terms of burnout and PTSD, and I've seen a number of cases coming out of the field.
And, when you have an atmosphere which allows something like burnout and PTSD to occur, another thing that's going to occur is things like sexual violence. All part and parcel of one big package in which our working culture is that you give, and give, and give, and give, and give, and you never take care of yourself.
So, when you feel that you're getting burned out, you don't get the mental health support that you need. You don't seek it. You don't talk about it. And when you have an experience with sexual violence, similarly you don't talk about it. You don't seek- well, hopefully you'll seek at the very least uh, medical help, but often people aren't seeking psychological help until quite a time after the incident, when they're addressing, you know, the myriad of traumas that they've experienced while working in the field.
Nuran: I guess one of the other things for me that is an interesting space surrounding the, the complexity of mental health, sexual violence, and well-being is the linkages between security management. And, over the last 3 years of the consultative process, and more specifically in the last months leading up to the summit, we've seen much more prominence  given across the World Humanitarian Summit agenda to safety, security, and protection of healthcare workers, rather than taking into account instead a  more holistic approach to address the complexity of issues effecting all workers.
There is no denying that safety, security, and protection of healthcare workers is a critical issue that needs to be  addressed urgently. However, given the fact that there had been no inclusion to address the issues surrounding health and well-being of all aid workers,  it's important to ask the question that by having singled out a segment of  humanitarian aid workers over other, that are also exposed essentially to  security risks, have we actually done a disservice to the greater cause  surrounding aid workers on the frontline, and particularly being able to look  at the importance of linking security management systems and health and  well-being, and the protection of aid workers, um, that humanitarian  organizations need to consider when looking at the duty of care.
Megan Nobert: Absolutely. I think there's always a danger in looking at any of these issues in isolation, because they do all connect to one another. I mean you could talk about things, like duty of care extends from safety and security to security management systems. It extends to mental health and the provision of mental health assistance, um, creating atmosphere in which you know, it's reporting about mental health issues, and it's not stigmatized, but is, you know, encouraged. Where the work environment has is a semblance of work-life balance.
A work environment where you can have conversations about things like sexual violence, and what is appropriate, and what is not appropriate in the office. Â And you have work environments where individuals are not retaliated against for whistleblowing on the myriad of issues that we're hiding from. Â You know, things like embezzlement, sexual exploitation and abuse, to sexual exploitation and abuse of the population, and so on.
Nuran: You have launched a really important campaign, Report the Abuse, which I think is becoming much more widely known across the humanitarian sector, which is fantastic. Taking the opportunity to have you on the show right now, and hopefully we can get you back later in the year. Â Can you share with listeners why establishing the campaign is so important, and what the primary focus of the campaign is all about?
Megan Nobert: So, uh, thank you for asking about the Report the Abuse campaign. I'm always happy to talk about it. It's, um, it is becoming more widely known. And the motivation behind starting the Report the Abuse campaign was to start breaking down these barriers. To start these conversations about sexual violence within and against the humanitarian aid  community. That's something that everybody knows happens. I know, I don't know a single woman who's worked in the field that doesn't have a story about something from, you know, sexual harassment up through sexual abuse. And that struck me, it struck me as just being so disconcerting and disconnected.
We know this is happening. Why are we not talking about it? Because by not talking about these issues, we allow them to percolate, and we allow them to continue, and we allow them to escalate. Um, it's, you  know, similarly, we don't talk about mental health issues, we allow them to  get worse. PTSD and burnout are getting more severe. People are dropping in and out of the humanitarian world. We're not talking about funding issues. Those are increasing concerns.
If we don't talk about sexual violence, it just gets worse. So, there was, you know, that was kind of the big motivation was to have these conversations. Um, but the other big piece of it was to let survivors know that they're not alone, um.
Nuran: That's so important.
Megan Nobert: Yes. Absolutely. It's to have these conversations. It's  o empower other survivors to ha- you know, to find their voice, to tell  their story in their own way, whatever it is, if they're ready. If that's anonymously. Um, there's been many reports in The Guardian where we've had  anonymous testimonies, and that's been amazing.
And shortly after Report the Abuse started had a 50 days, 50 testimonies campaign, where every day we published a new snippet of a story of someone's experience with sexual violence across the range.  They were all primarily women, but we've had men report, um. Unfortunately we know men that havenât felt comfortable yet to talk about their own experience in sexual violence. But slowly and surely we are breaking down those barriers. And hopefully in the next 6 months we'll be including national staff within those voices. And we're looking at ways to include national staff voices, and encourage them to  report and um get through, you know, the stigmas, and uh, technical barriers,  and language barriers that they um, they face.
Nuran: That's fantastic. I guess looking ahead, post World Humanitarian Summit , and given the fact that the opportunity to have a side  event, unfortunately hasn't occurred for many of us, what do you think is the  single most important thing that we could do to improve the sector's overall commitment towards valuing aid workers when looking from a more holistic  approach that sees security, health, and well-being much more aligned?
Megan Nobert: I think the biggest thing that we can do in moving forward is to not work in a bubble. And I mean that in terms of like, you know, campaign versus campaign, individual versus individual organization, versus organization, issue versus issue. When we work in bubbles we become isolated. We lose that opportunity for innovation, and voice, and connectivity. So think about stopping to work in these bubbles by talking freely and widely, and having these conversations about such important issues. We can take what didn't unfortunately, you know, did unfortunately not get on the World Humanitarian Summit Summit's side event list, but we can take it far beyond. It's, the summit is two-days, and humanitarian aid work is going to extend far beyond those two-days. We're going to be looking at decades, and decades, and decades of issues that will not be fixed for years to come; but we can start that important work, you know ... The summit ends on Tuesday, and Wednesday we start that work.
Nuran: Megan, thanks so much for taking the time to join us here on Emergency AIDio, and share your thoughts surrounding such an  important issue effecting aid workers and the sectors with listeners.
Megan Nobert: Thank you very much for having me on.
 Nuran: Now, if you want to learn more about the work Megan is doing through Report the Abuse campaign, then head over to reporttheabuse.org  to find out more.
So we've come to the end of today's show. Thanks to our guests Amy, Megan, Amandine, and Samara, for joining us on today's show, and sharing their personal perspectives on the challenges facing the sector, and the importance of keeping aid worker health and well-being present in  people's minds.
If you enjoyed this conversation I would encourage you to visit Nuran Higginsâ website www.thehealthynomad.org and subscribe to EmergencyAIDio. You can also connect to The Healthy Nomad on Facebook,  Instagram and Twitter.
Aid Worker Security & Wellbeing at the World Humanitarian Summit
As we approach the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul 23-24 May 2016, the topic of aid worker security and wellbeing continues to feature on social media and in the online press. Rebecca Maudling, Company Director of International Location Safety, presents her view on how this topic might be discussed in Istanbul.Â
The first ever World Humanitarian Summit is being held later this month in Turkey. It is being billed as a global call to action; an opportunity to change the landscape of Humanitarian action and to address some of the most critical issues of our time. It is providing a platform to focus on global Humanitarian needs and how we can do better for the people caught up in the numerous crises affecting the world today and in the future. It can safely be said that there are very mixed expectations regarding the outcomes, however the hope is that changes that translate into more effective humanitarian assistance will be seen as a result.
The Summit presents an opportunity to continue to highlight and raise the profile of the issue of aid worker safety, security and wellbeing; reinforcing the message that if you want to deliver effective humanitarian assistance you need a competent and fit workforce, well equipped to cope with the demanding conditions they will be working under.Â
This issue surfaced in the consultations leading up to the Summit and indeed in the UN General Assembly resolution passed in December 2015 there was an explicit call for this issue to be on the WHS agenda.Â
Despite this, the issue is notable for its absence; made all the more notable given that one of the 15 Special Session is dedicated to journalists and their protection.
Currently the issue is mentioned in Core commitment 4 of the Upholding the Norms that Safeguard Humanity Roundtable which calls for a commitment to ââŚpromote and enhance efforts to respect and protect medical personnel, transports and facilities, as well as humanitarian relief personnel and assets against attacks, threats or other violent acts.âÂ
Of the 112 side events, there is one co-hosted by RedR UK on strategies to end attacks specifically on health workers and one co-hosted by Humanitarian Outcomes on improving access and assistance which is likely to touch on the issues. However, despite targeting of aid workers and repeated violations of International Humanitarian Law which directly affects their safety, wellbeing, and ultimately their ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, this issue does not appear to have gained any prominence.
In the run up to the Summit I worked with a global coalition of advocates* to propose a side event on the issue of aid worker wellbeing, however we were disappointed that this was not accepted. Wanting to find other opportunities to ensure this issue was represented in some way on the WHS agenda and in recognition of the need to create a strong voice around these issues I approached the European Interagency Security Forum (EISF) to support our efforts.Â
As a result of this collaboration we were able to galvanise stakeholders from the humanitarian risk management community to develop two commitments which have been submitted to the WHS. The details of the commitments can be found here. These have been endorsed by a number of NGO risk management coordination bodies, representing security focal points of 145 organisations, working in 129 countries, plus key stakeholders from the humanitarian security risk management community. We are hoping that EISF and ILS will have the opportunity to present them at the Summit.
You cannot have effective humanitarian action without effective humanitarians.Â
The official hashtag of the Summit is #ShareHumanity. I would argue that in order to truly #ShareHumanity we need to ensure that those delivering humanitarian assistance are treated with humanity too. It is for this reason that we have worked hard with EISF to get aid worker security and wellbeing to feature more prominently on the agenda at the WHS.
ILS, InterHealth Worldwide and EISF will also have an exhibition stand at WHS focused on services, products and initiatives to improve aid worker security and wellbeing. If you are going to the Summit we would love to see you there!
*- Amy Brathwaite who has made a powerful documentary exploring the personal impact that working in emergency settings can have.
- Emmett Fitzgerald, Director at the CBR Project for Humanitarian Relief Workers and Hadley Griffin, Program Associate, The CBR Project at the Garrison Institute
- Christoph Hensch who has written about his personal experiences and advocates for improved staff care. Curates Support for Humanitarian Aid WorkersÂ
- Nuran Higgins who runs the Healthy Nomad website and Emergency AIDio show
- Megan Nobert, Founder and Project Director at Report the Abuse, addressing sexual violence within humanitarian settings
-Â Brendan McDonald who has written extensively on the subject and launched a petition to get aid worker wellbeing included as a key issue at the World Humanitarian Summit
Reblogged with the kind permission of Rebecca Maudling. The original article was posted on LinkedIn on 11 May 2016.Â
What are people saying about the World Humanitarian Summit?
People and organizations from across the world are talking about the World Humanitarian Summit on different social media platforms Can you hear them? Are we listening? Will their voices matter in Istanbul? To make it a little easier to follow the online conversation I have aggregated social media content from numerous platforms into this blog; as well as news articles on the Summit as they are published. Feel free to join the conversation!Â
Letâs Talk About Digital Humanitarianism
How can social media can support humanitarian work?
In late February 2011 the humanitarian situation in Libya was deteriorating rapidly. Refugees and third-country nationals were fleeing to Tunisia and Egypt; media coverage reports of human rights violations and attacks on civilians filled the airwaves. I was the Chief of UN OCHAâs Information Services Section; a few months later I would become the Head of OCHA Libya.
With no UN presence on the ground in Libya, I made the decision to activate a community of online activists and volunteers including the Standby Volunteer Task Force, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap and Crisis Commons to help us sort a huge amount of information being shared online from inside Libya. Â Within the space of a few weeks, the Libya Crisis Map was online and being used by the UN to help inform situational awareness.
Screenshot - Libya Crisis Map
Although the Libya Crisis Map was not the first appearance of digital humanitarianism;Â it was the first time I became convinced of the potential of social networks, digital tools and volunteers to help reshape humanitarian action. Â In the five years since the Libya Crisis Map thousands of volunteers and professionals have worked online, in collaboration with international humanitarian organizations, to support humanitarian operations on multiple occasions, most recently for the Ecuador Earthquake.
As we approach the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul 23-24 May 2016, it is important to reflect on the pros and cons of digital humanitarianism. Â It is clear that how humanitarian information can be collected, shared, and analyzed has profoundly changed in recent years. To fully harness the potential of digital humanitarianism; aid organizations will need to think and behave differently. They will also need to understand the risks digital humanitarianism brings.
In the following conversation, Sarah Illingworth and Vincent Fevrier discuss the pros and cons of digital humanitarianism; asking the question, amongst others, can it really help address the underlying causes of humanitarian emergencies?
Reblogged with kind permission from Impolitikal, an online publication with a political, social focus.
Sarah:Â You said youâve been thinking about how digital humanitarianism both challenges and revolutionizes humanitarian action. Iâve thought a fair bit about this in terms of advocacy and activism. My backgroundâs in media, but I also studied international development â and NGOsâ increased utilization of social media, for example, to draw attention to a given cause makes sense. But I also wonder how effective such techniques are in leading to real-world action and change. I guess itâs likely to depend on country and context; the Arab Spring saw people use digital tools effectively, to coordinate, and organizations like 350.org have had a lot of success in using digital platforms to highlight the work theyâre doing around climate change.Â
But at what point do we, as potential donors or supporters, switch off? There are so many causes and charities in the world â many people âneed helpâ, material or otherwise, and it can be hard to know how to help, or even to feel like you want to beyond a point.Â
What are your thoughts on that, and on the use of digital tools to support humanitarian work in the field?
Vincent: Like you said, social media has been used in sections of development and humanitarianism, mainly through advocacy and communication. Organisations tend to use it for one-way communication to spread their message in the hopes of receiving funds from the public. In a disaster setting, they might use social networks to spread information to the affected people to let them know of services provided and areas of operation. What Iâve been interested in, is to see how organizations can use the information from those affected by disasters provided through social networking sites to make the response more efficient.Â
âThese social networking sites have given a voice to people who might not have had one a decade ago during a disaster, but today do; and itâs time for organizations to listen to those voices.âÂ
I think one way that social media can benefit the humanitarian sector is by providing information to give better situational awareness to organisations for broad strategic planning and logistics. I see social media as the source of the information, combined with a recent tool in humanitarianism, crisis mapping, as the platform to visualise this information.Â
Crisis mapping really emerged in 2010 during the Haiti earthquake, and since then software and digital humanitarian platforms such as Standby Task Force, OpenStreetMap, and many others have been active during many disasters â mapping out roads, tweets, and sifting through data to ensure that a full picture of the disaster is given to partners like UN OCHA, all while doing these tasks by crowdsourcing information. The ability for these organisations to gather information and visualise it can be a tremendous advantage to NGOs who are willing to innovate, because these visuals could render the response more efficient. For example, if tweets say a road is blocked, NGOs can plan new routes for shipments, saving on time. This is quite a simple answer on an important topic, but I just think that there is so much potential in these new technologies in regard to humanitarianism, that NGOs have to evolve from the traditional practices and start thinking outside the box.
Sarah: Youâre right, as a vehicle for digital tools designed to help in a time of crisis social media and networks can bring a lot to the party. But what are your thoughts on NGO and activist organizationsâ use of social media in a broader sense, for awareness- or fund-raising, or brand promotion?Â
Do you agree with accusations of slacktivism, or clicktivism, that is that social media makes it too easy for people to appear to engage with issues â and for organisations to appear to be engaged with â online, and thatâs it? Impact is measured according to a perceived response, not reality? Or is online engagement enough in a digitally connected, oriented world?Â
âDo we still need to take to the streets to protest over a given issue â or can signing an Avaaz petition, or sharing an NGOâs social media post be as effective a way of making a democratic point?â
In a similar vein, we discussed the use/misuse of imagery in humanitarian campaigns to play on peopleâs heartstrings. Critique of this isnât new â poverty and disaster porn are coined terms â but the media, and social media response to the image of 2 year-old Alan Kurdi on the shores of Greece last year brought this back into a, very stark, spotlight. Whereâs the line for you between using imagery to elicit a needed humanitarian response to issues and events, and protecting the privacy and vulnerability of the subject/s of an image?
Vincent: Concerning your first question, I think itâs a good thing that some are using the tools to spread information, to organize, and for anything that can be to their advantage. Technology has evolved, and the private sector has made use of it early on, so Iâm glad that the NGO sector is finally realizing that they have to adapt as well. Social media is a great tool for organizations to ensure that they can get their name out there and garner support.Â
My hope is that the power of the tool is used not just for one-way communication from the organisationâs side, but also to listen reflexively to what people have to say, and potentially using that information for strategic decision-making. As for activists, we saw with the Arab Spring the power that social media could have. Even for other causes, social media again serves activists to ensure that injustices or the causes they care about are brought to the forefront of the digital world and shared with millions of people.Â
As for clicktivism, I understand the argument that social media allows people to sit behind their computer screens away from the issues, but I also know that not everyone is able or willing to go out in the streets to protest for what they care about. And I donât think that should diminish the contributions they can make through sharing information on social media.Â
âIn my opinion, anybody who shares information online about a cause, whether just once, benefits that cause, because you never know who it might influence later on to take a stand.â
I think there is room in this world for both those that are active in the streets, and those who are active in the digital realm. Itâs similar to those who analyse social media posts or trace satellite imagery from their house related to a disaster that occurred halfway across the world. The concept of digital humanitarianism is something I strongly believe in. Imagery is an interesting topic.Â
Communications departments do their best to find the best pictures possible to portray a cause to ensure that they can get potential donations flowing. These pictures, though, seem to always portray the vulnerable child and mother, and for me that is not a true representation of the cause and it bothers me, even though I understand that raising funds is the primary motivation behind the use of that imagery. Humanitarian emergencies arenât glamourous, so I understand that the pictures used for emergency appeals to get funds will usually be the ones that tug on the heartstrings of prospective donors, and that usually means using a picture like the one of Alan Kurdi. Even if I do have my reservations about such practice, it is one that works. The Europe refugee crisis probably received a lot more attention than it otherwise would have if it wasnât for that picture.
âUnfortunately my bigger issue, and perhaps this takes us back to the clicktivism debate, is that while such imagery can appear to generate strong reactions, it doesnât always translate to long term commitments to address the underlying issues that led to such a tragic photograph.â
Vincent Fevrier is a humanitarian passionate about using technology to improve effectiveness in the field. He has an MSc in International Disaster Management from the University of Manchester. Read more by Vincent.
Sarah Illingworth is a freelance journalist and Editor at Impolitikal. She has an MSc in Poverty & Development from the University of Manchester. Read more by Sarah.
The full-length original blog is accessible at:Â Â Impolitikal, an online only publication with a political, social focus.
#CommIsAid #Humanitarianism #Digital #ReShapeAid #WorldHumanitarianSummit #Online @impolitikal #clicktivism #LibyaÂ
What Does the UN Really Think About Aid Worker Safety and Security, and the World Humanitarian Summit?
At the policy level the United Nations supports Aid Worker Safety and Security but what does this mean in practice?
Advocacy to improve the health and safety of humanitarian aid workers has accelerated significantly in recent years. Although this has succeeded in building awareness of the issues; implementing sector-wide solutions has been far more difficult. Â While there are no shortages of possible solutions on the table, achieving consensus on what they are, and securing a commitment to implement them, has been nigh impossible until now.
The World Humanitarian Summit, an initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General, presents the humanitarian system with a unique possibility to deliver real commitments to improve the health and safety of aid workers. Â Since the first consultation in May 2014, numerous individuals and organizations have advocated for the inclusion of aid worker health and safety at the Summit. This was reflected in a petition to include the topic of aid worker health at the Summit, which was signed by 1,461 people representing national and international aid workers across the sector.
These advocates believe that to deliver principled, accountable and high-quality humanitarian action, it is imperative that communities and people affected by crisis receive the assistance they require from competent and well-managed staff and volunteers. They also recognized that to do this, the humanitarian system needed to invest in the physical, mental and psychological welfare of their staff.
This view was reflected on the 10th of December 2015 when the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution A/RES/70/104, âSafety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnel.â Â In the resolution the General Assembly noted:
âthe importance of giving due consideration to the question of the safety and security of United Nations and other humanitarian personnel at the World Humanitarian Summit.âÂ
The resolution also emphasized:
âthe importance of making available stress management, mental health and related services for United Nations personnel throughout the system, and encourages all humanitarian organizations to provide their personnel with similar support.â
[The full resolution is available at the end of this blog post]
On 9 February 2016, the Secretary-General launched his report for the World Humanitarian Summit, One Humanity: Shared Responsibility. Â In the report the Secretary-General advocated for improving the health and safety of humanitarian aid workers by:
Ensuring âthat all State and non-State parties to armed conflict fulfill their obligations to respect and protect humanitarian and medical workers;â and by,
Putting âin place political, legal, social and safety measures to protect humanitarian and medical personnel and facilities, including enacting and enforcing domestic laws and regulations, education and training, and enhancing cooperation with local communities.â
It is now up to all humanitarian stakeholders to heed the call of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General âto commit to implementing concrete initiatives aimed at makingâ these recommendations a reality at the Summit.
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 10Â December 2015 [without reference to a Main Committee (A/70/L.25 and Add.1)] Â
70/104. Â Â Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnelÂ
    The General Assembly,
    Reaffirming its resolution 46/182 of 19 December 1991 on the strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian emergency assistance of the United Nations,
    Recalling all relevant resolutions on the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnel, including its resolution 69/133 of 12 December 2014, as well as Security Council resolutions on the protection of humanitarian personnel, including resolution 2175 (2014) of 29 August 2014, and relevant statements by the President of the Council,
    Recalling also all Security Council resolutions and presidential statements and reports of the Secretary-General to the Council on the protection of civilians in armed conflict,
    Reaffirming the principles, rules and relevant provisions of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law, as well as all relevant treaties, and the need to further promote and ensure respect thereof,
    Recalling the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and the Additional Protocols thereto of 8 June 1977, and the obligation of parties to armed conflict to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law in all circumstances, and urging all such parties to comply with international humanitarian law and ensure respect for and protection of all humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel,
    Deeply concerned by the continuous erosion, in many cases, of respect for the principles and rules of international law, in particular international humanitarian law,
    Reaffirming the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence for the provision of humanitarian assistance,
    Recalling that primary responsibility under international law for the security and protection of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel lies with the Government hosting a United Nations operation conducted under the Charter of the United Nations or its agreements with relevant organizations,
    Expressing its appreciation to those Governments which respect the internationally agreed principles on the protection of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel, while expressing concern over the lack of respect for these principles in some areas,
    Noting the fact that the number of States parties to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, which entered into force on 15 January 1999, has reached 91, mindful of the need to promote the universality of the Convention, and welcoming the entry into force on 19 August 2010 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, which expands the scope of legal protection under the Convention,
    Expressing deep concern at the complex and dynamic security environment, marked by the diverse and multifaceted threats and significant security risks faced by humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel, and the increase in the number of direct attacks against such personnel at the field level, as they operate in increasingly high-risk environments,
    Deeply concerned about the particular vulnerability of locally recruited humanitarian personnel and United Nations associated personnel to safety and security-related incidents, including road traffic accidents, arrest and detention, and abduction,
    Expressing deep concern that the occurrence of attacks and threats against humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel is a factor that severely restricts the provision of assistance and protection to populations in need, and commending the commitment of United Nations and other humanitarian personnel to stay and deliver effectively the most critical programmes even in dangerous environments,
    Stressing the need to uphold the respect and protection which the flag of the United Nations, and the nature of humanitarian work, should command and ensure, and stressing the importance of fully respecting the obligations relating to the use of vehicles and premises of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel as defined by relevant international instruments, as well as the obligations relating to distinctive emblems recognized in the Geneva Conventions,
    Commending the courage and commitment of those who take part in humanitarian operations, especially national and locally recruited personnel, and including those serving with national and international non-governmental organizations in the field, often at great personal risk,
    Commending also the courage and commitment of those who take part in peace operations, including peacekeeping operations,[6] often at great personal risk, especially national and locally recruited personnel,
    Noting with concern the evolving threats that United Nations personnel face when deployed and that, in 2014, 1,734 persons, representing 0.96 per cent of the United Nations system personnel, were affected by safety and security incidents, with 30 fatalities, of which 15 resulted from acts of violence, namely, crime, acts of terrorism and civil unrest, 166 injuries, of which 65 resulted from acts of violence, and 6 abductions, and noting that these figures do not include United Nations personnel who are not part of the United Nations security management system, such as locally recruited area staff of UNRWA, of whom 18 were killed, 52 injured and 5 abducted in 2014,Â
    Strongly condemning all attacks against humanitarian personnel, expressing profound regret at the deaths, injuries and abductions resulting from these attacks, and noting with concern that there were 329 recorded attacks against humanitarian personnel in 2014, resulting in at least 121 personnel killed, 88 injured and 120 abducted,
    Strongly condemning also all attacks and threats against medical personnel and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities, and deploring the long-term consequences of such attacks for the population and health-care systems of the countries concerned, and in this regard welcoming efforts by States, international and non-governmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen compliance with international humanitarian law by raising awareness and promoting preparedness to address the grave and serious humanitarian consequences arising from such violence,
    Expressing profound regret at the deaths, illnesses and other adverse consequences affecting humanitarian personnel and health-care personnel as a result of public health hazards such as the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in West Africa, and stressing the need for a conducive environment, appropriate equipment and resilient public health systems, and the urgency of preparedness,
    Expressing deep concern at the deep and long-lasting impacts of attacks and threats against humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel,
    Strongly condemning acts of murder and other forms of violence, rape and sexual assault and all forms of violence committed in particular against women and children, and intimidation, armed robbery, abduction, hostage-taking, kidnapping, harassment and illegal arrest and detention, to which those participating in humanitarian operations are exposed, as well as attacks on humanitarian convoys and acts of destruction and looting of property,
    Affirming the need for States to ensure that perpetrators of attacks committed on their territory against humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel and against their premises or assets do not operate with impunity, that such attacks are investigated promptly and effectively and that the perpetrators of such acts are brought to justice, as provided for by national laws and in accordance with obligations under international law,
    Recalling the inclusion of attacks intentionally directed against personnel involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict, as a war crime in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and noting the role that the Court can play in appropriate cases in bringing to justice those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law,
    Reaffirming the need to ensure adequate levels of safety and security for United Nations and associated personnel, including locally recruited staff, which constitutes an underlying duty of the Organization, and mindful of the need to promote and enhance security consciousness within the organizational culture of the United Nations and a culture of accountability at all levels, as well as to continue to promote awareness of and sensitivity to national and local cultures and laws,
    Gravely concerned at the large number of accidents and resulting casualties among United Nations and associated personnel, and conscious of the importance of road and aviation safety in ensuring the continuity of United Nations operations and preventing casualties among civilians and United Nations and associated personnel, and in this regard regretting the loss of civilian life as a result of such incidents,
    Stressing that acceptance of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel by the host Governments, local authorities, local communities, populations and other parties as appropriate crucially contributes to their safety and security,
    Noting the importance of reinforcing close collaboration between the United Nations and the host country on contingency planning, information exchange and risk assessment in the context of good mutual cooperation on issues relating to the security of United Nations and associated personnel, as well as the importance of coordinating prevention and mitigation measures and managing security in crisis situations,
    Noting also that, in order to remain fit for purpose and to support the effective and principled delivery of humanitarian assistance, the United Nations security management system needs to evolve in response to the challenging global security environment, requiring, inter alia, an effective management structure, adequate and predictable resources and the timely deployment of security personnel with appropriate skills and field experience and of the equipment necessary for the performance of their duties, including vehicles and telecommunications equipment, which have an essential role in facilitating the safety of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel,
    1.   Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General;Â
    2.   Urges all States to make every effort to ensure the full and effective implementation of the relevant principles and rules of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law, and refugee law as applicable, related to the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and United Nations personnel;
    3.   Condemns in the strongest possible terms the alarming increase in threats to and deliberate targeting of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel and the unprecedented increase in the scale and the increasingly complex nature of threats faced by such personnel, such as the disturbing trend of politically and criminally motivated attacks, including extremist attacks, against them;
    4.   Strongly urges all States to take the necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of national and international humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel and to respect and ensure respect for the inviolability of United Nations premises, which are essential to the continuation and successful implementation of United Nations operations;
    5.   Calls upon all Governments and parties in complex humanitarian emergencies, in particular in armed conflicts and in post-conflict situations, in countries in which humanitarian personnel are operating, in conformity with the relevant provisions of international law and national laws, to cooperate fully with the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies and organizations and to ensure the safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel and the delivery of supplies and equipment, in order to allow those personnel to perform efficiently their task of assisting the affected civilian population, including refugees and internally displaced persons;
    6.   Calls upon all States to consider becoming parties to and to respect fully their obligations under the relevant international instruments;
    7.   Also calls upon all States to consider becoming parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
    8.   Further calls upon all States to consider becoming parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, and urges States parties to put in place appropriate national legislation, as necessary, to enable its effective implementation;
    9.   Calls upon all States, all parties involved in armed conflict and all humanitarian actors to respect the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence for the provision of humanitarian assistance;
    10.   Welcomes the contribution of female humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel in humanitarian and United Nations operations, expresses concern that these personnel may be more exposed to certain forms of crime and acts of intimidation and harassment, strongly urges the United Nations system and Member States to analyse the different forms of violence, crime, acts of intimidation and harassment to which women and men are differently exposed, and also strongly urges the United Nations system and Member States to choose appropriate and gender-sensitive approaches for their safety and security and to ensure that female humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel are meaningfully included in decisions related to their safety and security;
    11.   Strongly condemns all threats and acts of violence against humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel, also condemns attacks intentionally directed against personnel involved in a peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations as long as they are entitled to protection from attack under international humanitarian law, reaffirms the need to prosecute, penalize and punish those responsible for such acts, strongly urges all States to take stronger action to ensure that crimes against such personnel do not remain unpunished and are investigated fully, and affirms the need for States to ensure that perpetrators of any such acts committed on their territory do not operate with impunity, as provided by national laws and obligations under international law;
    12.   Stresses the importance of continued close coordination and consultation with host Governments on the functioning of the security level system and related tools, and in this regard encourages the Secretary-General to continue to consult with the host Governments;
    13.   Calls upon all States to comply fully with their obligations under international humanitarian law, including as provided for under the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, in order to respect and protect civilians, including humanitarian personnel;
    14.   Stresses the obligation, in accordance with international humanitarian law and national laws and regulations, as applicable, to respect and protect medical personnel, as well as humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities, in all circumstances, in this regard notes the role of domestic legal frameworks and other appropriate measures in promoting the safety and protection of such personnel, and urges States [and all parties to armed conflict] to develop effective measures to prevent and address violence against such personnel, their means of transport and equipment, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities;
    15.   Notes the importance of giving due consideration to the question of the safety and security of United Nations and other humanitarian personnel at the World Humanitarian Summit, to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 23 and 24 May 2016 ;
    16.   Calls upon all States to provide adequate and prompt information in the event of the arrest or detention of humanitarian personnel or United Nations and associated personnel, so as to afford them the necessary medical assistance and to allow independent medical teams to visit and examine the health of those detained, and to ensure their right to legal counsel, and urges States to take the necessary measures to ensure the speedy release of those who have been arrested or detained in violation of the relevant conventions referred to in the present resolution and applicable international humanitarian law;
    17.   Calls upon all parties involved in armed conflict not to abduct, take hostage or kidnap humanitarian personnel or United Nations and associated personnel or to detain them in violation of the relevant conventions referred to in the present resolution and applicable international humanitarian law, and speedily to release, without harm or requirement of concession, any abductee or detainee;
    18.   Requests the Secretary-General to take the necessary measures to promote full respect for the human rights, privileges and immunities of United Nations and associated personnel, and also requests the Secretary-General to seek the inclusion, in negotiations of headquarters and other mission agreements concerning United Nations and associated personnel, of the applicable conditions contained in the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies and the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel;
    19.   Recommends that the Secretary-General continue to seek the inclusion of, and that host countries include, key provisions of the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, among others, those regarding the prevention of attacks against members of the operation, the establishment of such attacks as crimes punishable by law and the prosecution or extradition of offenders, in future as well as, if necessary, in existing status-of-forces, status-of-mission, host country and other related agreements negotiated between the United Nations and those countries, mindful of the importance of the timely conclusion of such agreements, and encourages further efforts in this regard;
    20.   Encourages the Secretary-General to continue the ongoing efforts of the United Nations to develop a more systematic follow-up process with relevant host Governments on cases of serious crimes and acts of violence resulting in the death or serious injury of United Nations system personnel, in order to bring perpetrators to justice;
    21.   Calls attention to and reaffirms the obligation of all humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel to respect and, where required, observe the national laws of the country in which they are operating, in accordance with international law and the Charter;
    22.   Stresses the importance of ensuring that humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel are aware and respectful of national and local customs and traditions in their countries of assignment and communicate clearly their purpose and objectives to local populations in order to enhance their acceptance, thereby contributing to their safety and security, and in this regard ensure that humanitarian action is guided by humanitarian principles;
    23.   Urges the United Nations and other relevant humanitarian actors to include as part of their risk-management strategy the building of good relations and trust with national and local governments and the promotion of acceptance by local communities and all relevant actors with a view to enhancing safety and security;
    24.   Requests the Secretary-General to continue to take the necessary measures to ensure that United Nations and other personnel carrying out activities in fulfilment of the mandate of a United Nations operation are properly informed about and operate in conformity with the minimum operating security standards and relevant codes of conduct and are properly informed about the conditions under which they are called upon to operate and the standards that they are required to meet, including those contained in relevant national laws and international law, and that adequate training in security, human rights law and international humanitarian law is provided so as to enhance their security and effectiveness in accomplishing their functions, and reaffirms the necessity for all other humanitarian organizations to provide their personnel with similar support;
    25.   Also requests the Secretary-General to continue, in coordination with Member States, to take the necessary measures to ensure that all United Nations premises and assets, including staff residences, are compliant with the United Nations minimum operating security standards and other relevant United Nations security standards, and to continue the ongoing assessment of United Nations premises and physical security worldwide;
    26.   Welcomes the ongoing efforts of the Secretary-General to ensure that all United Nations personnel receive adequate safety and security training, stresses the need to continue to improve training so as to enhance cultural awareness and knowledge of relevant law, including international humanitarian law, prior to their deployment to the field, and reaffirms the necessity for all other humanitarian organizations to provide their personnel with similar support;
    27.   Also welcomes the efforts of the Secretary-General to provide counselling and support services to United Nations personnel affected by safety and security incidents, and emphasizes the importance of making available stress management, mental health and related services for United Nations personnel throughout the system, and encourages all humanitarian organizations to provide their personnel with similar support;
    28.   Notes with appreciation the ongoing measures taken by the Secretary-General and the United Nations system to enhance road safety, including through improved training and initiatives to promote road safety so as to reduce incidents caused by road hazards and, in particular, to reduce casualties or injuries resulting from these incidents among United Nations and associated personnel and among the civilian population in the host country, and requests the Secretary-General to continue the collection and analysis of data and to report on road incidents, including civilian casualties resulting from road accidents;
    29.   Welcomes the progress made towards further enhancing the security management system of the United Nations, including through the integration of all security personnel of the Secretariat under the leadership of the Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security, and supports the continued implementation of the stay-and-deliver strategy while focusing on effectively managing the risks to which personnel are exposed in order to enable the United Nations system to deliver the most critical programmes, even in high-risk environments;
    30.   Encourages the Secretary-General to continue consistent implementation of the programme criticality framework as an operational tool allowing informed decisions on acceptable risk to United Nations personnel;
    31.   Also encourages the Secretary-General to continue to develop enabling procedures that facilitate the deployment of suitably qualified United Nations security personnel, with the aim of improving the safety and security measures of the United Nations, in order to strengthen the ability of the United Nations to deliver on its programmes, mandates and activities, including humanitarian programmes;
    32.   Requests the Secretary-General, inter alia through the Inter-Agency Security Management Network, to continue the increased cooperation and collaboration among United Nations departments, organizations, funds and programmes and affiliated international organizations, including between their headquarters and field offices, in the planning and implementation of measures aimed at improving staff security, training and awareness, including field crisis management and gender inclusion in security management, and calls upon all relevant United Nations departments, organizations, funds and programmes and affiliated international organizations to support those efforts;
    33.   Calls upon all relevant actors to make every effort to support in their public statements a favourable environment for the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel;
    34.   Emphasizes the need to pay particular attention to the safety and security of locally recruited humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel, who account for the large majority of casualties and who are particularly vulnerable to attacks, including in cases of kidnapping, harassment, banditry and intimidation, requests the Secretary-General to keep under review the relevant United Nations safety and security policy and to enhance the safety and security of locally recruited personnel, while maintaining operational effectiveness, and calls upon the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to ensure that their personnel are adequately consulted on, informed about and trained in the relevant security measures, plans and initiatives of their respective organizations, which should be in line with applicable national laws and international law;
    35.   Notes with appreciation the progress reported in implementing the recommendations of the Independent Panel on Safety and Security of United Nations Personnel and Premises Worldwide;
    36.   Requests the Department of Safety and Security of the Secretariat to further strengthen the security management of the United Nations, focusing on strengthening security risk management policy and tools and their application, increasing situational awareness and analysis capacity, strengthening policy development and promoting best practices, increasing compliance with minimum operating security standards and improving monitoring and evaluation, enhancing surge capacity for emergency response, devising effective physical security measures, developing the expertise of security professionals and strengthening support to the designated officials and the security management teams in the field, and promoting an effective and preventive security management approach that is multidimensional;
    37.   Welcomes the work of the Secretary-General in enhancing security collaboration with host Governments, including efforts to support United Nations designated officials with regard to collaboration with host Government authorities on staff safety and security;
    38.   Stresses that the effective functioning at the country level of security operations requires a unified and robust capacity for policy, standards, coordination, communication, compliance and threat and risk assessment and operational and deployment flexibility to ensure that the security workforce reflects the changing dynamics of the security environment, and notes the benefits thereof to United Nations and associated personnel, including those achieved by the Department of Safety and Security since its establishment;
    39.   Welcomes the steps taken by the Secretary-General thus far, and encourages further efforts to enhance coordination and cooperation, at both the headquarters and the field levels, between the United Nations and other humanitarian and non-governmental organizations on matters relating to the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel, with a view to addressing mutual security concerns in the field, based on the âSaving Lives Togetherâ framework as well as other relevant national and local initiatives in this regard, and requests the Secretary-General in this respect to enhance further collaborative initiatives to address the security needs of implementing partners, including through enhanced information-sharing and, where appropriate, training, invites Member States to consider increasing support to those initiatives, and requests the Secretary-General to report on steps taken in this regard;
    40.   Underlines the urgent need to allocate adequate and predictable resources to the safety and security of United Nations and associated personnel, through regular and extrabudgetary resources, including through the consolidated appeals process, and encourages all States to contribute to the Trust Fund for Security of Staff Members of the United Nations System, inter alia, with a view to reinforcing the efforts of the Department of Safety and Security to meet its mandate and responsibilities to enable the safe delivery of programmes;
    41.   Also underlines the need for better coordination between the United Nations and host Governments, in accordance with the relevant provisions of international law and national laws, on the use and deployment of essential equipment required to provide for the safety and security of United Nations personnel and associated personnel working in the delivery of humanitarian assistance by United Nations organizations;
    42.   Calls upon States to consider acceding to or ratifying the Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations of 18 June 1998, which entered into force on 8 January 2005, and urges them to facilitate and expedite, consistent with their national laws and international obligations applicable to them, the use of communications equipment in those and other relief operations, inter alia, by limiting and, whenever possible, expeditiously lifting the restrictions placed on the use of communications equipment by United Nations and associated personnel;
    43.   Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session a comprehensive and updated report on the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnel and on the implementation of the present resolution, including an assessment of the impact of safety and security risks on such personnel, and the development, implementation and outcomes of policies, strategies and initiatives of the United Nations system in the field of safety and security.
 72nd plenary meeting 10 December 2015
A Sea of Solidarity - How Social Media Saved Refugee Lives off Chios
In January 2016 Social Media Helped Save Refugee Lives Off the Coast of Greece
I find it disheartening to be constantly inundated by news of refugees losing their lives crossing the Mediterranean. For the people making this perilous journey, it is a distressing and frightening experience. On the night of 10 January, a small group of refugees was stranded on a small uninhabited island off the coast of Chios, Greece. The temperature had fallen to 7Ë C and they were in desperate need of help.
Over 8,000 km away in Virginia, an American Lawyer, Adam Rosser, was not expecting to be deeply involved in the fate of those people. However, due to the power of social media, he played a pivotal role in their rescue. Here is his story.
Shortly after midnight I was sitting in my living room in Arlington, Virginia (USA), enjoying a Duolingo lesson after everyone else in the house had gone to bed. Ping⌠My phone chimed telling me someone was trying to reach me on messenger. I glanced down and saw a name that was only vaguely familiar.
"Dear Sir ⌠There are 6 men and 6 women and 5 children and one handheld child⌠They run out of everything since yesterday and they are in critical condition. Please rescue them ASAP otherwise we will start losing them."
The message included a map with a dropped pin, and photos of children looking very cold and miserable. They appeared to be in an unpopulated area. I glanced at the map and did not recognize the shape of the island. I did know that unplanned landings on small islands between Turkey and Greece happen regularly.
Map by Adam Rosser
I would later learn that Ahmed, the man contacting me, is an Iraqi refugee living in Belgium for the past five months while waiting for his asylum application to be processed. He himself was on a dinghy that landed on the Greek island of Farmakonisi. Their engine stalled several times and he had to jump out and swim for 2 hours to drag their boat to land. He has remained in close contact with many refugees in Turkey as they prepare to make the crossing to Greece.Â
If there are boats that donât arrive in Greece, or that land on uninhabited rocks like this one, many people know to call Ahmed. There are several groups who handle such calls and coordinate rescues from afar, but these refugees only knew how to reach Ahmed.
"Hi Ahmed - What can I do? I am sitting in my home in America. I donât have contact info for any rescue personnelâŚ"
"Call everybody on island⌠I think you have good contact with Greece."
Because of the time I spend on Facebook and my work with Sea of Solidarity, itâs true that I do get a lot of requests for assistance because people assume I may be able to help with all sorts of issues. Sometimes I can, but often I canât. Someone recently asked me if I knew how refugees can get from France to the U.K. (for the record, no, I have no idea).
Ahmed was pleading with me to assist. It was early on a Sunday morning in both time zones, and I questioned whether someone else would be available to solve this problem if I didnât try. I realized that maybe I could help. Ahmed and I went back and forth in strained English at times, until I could identify the island as a small uninhabited piece of land off the coast of Chios.
Chios is a larger island that hosts several established NGOs including A Drop in the Ocean (DrĂĽpen i Havet or Drop) and the Spanish Lifeguards. I immediately sent off several messages to people I knew would be able to contact the Greek Coast Guard and/or Spanish Lifeguards on Chios.
My friend Chris Kourt replied from Germany and provided the phone number for the Greek Coast Guard on Chios. Ahmed called the number and was simply told âwe are aware of this case,â and to have the group ask the military barracks on the island for assistance. I was soon informed through Ahmed that the Greek military barracks had already refused to offer any assistance to the group, even though it was the middle of the night in winter time, and the group included young children. It would be necessary to use other angles to pressure the coast guard to initiate the rescue.
The next person to reply was Trude Jacobsen, the Drop founder and Chairwoman. Trude relayed the information to her coordinator on Chios. Drop Chios was already aware that a group of refugees was stuck on a nearby island, but there could be more than one. Everything seemed to happen very smoothly on the Drop side, which immediately put me at ease. I wasnât alone in this problem any longer. Now with the refugeesâ phone number from Ahmed, the Drop coordinator could contact the group directly to figure out exactly where they were and facilitate rescue.
The weather had been poor the night before but they would press the Coast Guard again to go and find them. Over the next hour it was back and forth with Ahmed and Trude. Finally it was clear I had done all I could. Trude assured me the group of refuges would be safe soon, and encouraged me to go to bed. It was 4:00 am my local time. I had never finished my online language lesson. Basic BokmĂĽl will have to wait a little bit longer.
Less than three hours after I said goodbye to Trude, Ahmed wrote to me again: "rescue now"
I simply replied "Good"
Trude later confirmed that everyone in the group was okay.
As everyone who has been to Lesvos this past year knows, there is no way to anticipate what will happen there at any given time. The situation is extremely fluid. I now know that this rule can extend to those who have left the island, but remain closely connected by social media. Although I was tired the next morning, I was glad I could be there for Ahmed, and perhaps even play some small role in getting this group of refugees safely in the hands of caring volunteers on Chios.
I later reflected on the fact that this rescue mission involved persons in Belgium, the United States, Norway, Germany and of course Greece, all working closely together in real time using tools readily available to nearly anyone in the world. All of this was done very naturally, without any technical problems or delays, and at no expense to any of us except for routine data charges. Itâs just another example of how powerful a tool social media can be.
Thank you everyone -- including the Drop Chios Coordinator and Greek Coast Guard of course -- for your help to see that this story had a positive ending. Below are the images from Ahmed, showing the location of the refugees and the children stuck there in wet clothes overnight without any assistance. Fortunately, they were all warm, dry and well fed when they went to sleep tonight.
Photos republished with kind permission of Ahmed Ks
This story first appeared on Adam Rosserâs FaceBook page on 11 January 2016, and is quoted here with the kind permission of the author. Â
To learn more about the work of Sea of Solidarity and A Drop in the Ocean, visit their websites at: http://www.seaofsolidarity.org & http://drapenihavet.no/en/Â
Mental Health & Wellbeing of Aid Workers:Â Emergency AIDio Interview
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to be interviewed by Nuran Higgins on Emergency AIDio, the first independent international broadcasting community for aid workers. Here is the transcript of the interview, edited slightly for clarity.
Nuran:Â Hi, everyone. This is Nuran Higgins, and you're listening to Emergency AIDio. A community space that's all about connecting aid workers to discuss real issues that shape our lives. I hope wherever you are tuning in from around the world that your week has been filled with lots of positive vibes and not too much stress. As you know, our last week's show of Emergency AIDio featured the first of a 2-part series which is focused on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Aid Workers.Â
Today, we're going to continue on with this important topic by diving deeper into the second part of the series. Now, on today's show we're going to hear from Brendan McDonald who will share with us his critical views surrounding staff welfare, as well as a recent online petition that is circulating widely across the sector which is calling on the United Nations Secretary General and Emergency Relief Coordinator to recognize and invest in the mental, psychological, and physical welfare of aid workers.
Nuran: Â Welcome Brendan and thanks for joining us here on Emergency AIDio.
Brendan: Pleasure to be here.
Nuran: Now over the last 15 years, there has been a significant interest and commitment by many individuals and organizations to address the issue of mental health and well-being of aid workers. This is an issue that leaves no stone unturned affecting every one of us. Either on a personal level witnessing a friend, or colleague, or even indirectly through the lives of our family and friends that are often left feeling a sense of helplessness not knowing how to help us. In spite of such efforts and commitment made by many over the years, one would expect with this being an area studied extensively that the statistics around the effects for aid workers when it comes to mental health and well-being would decline to some degree. In fact, that's not the case. Now, in July you wrote a number of articles around this issue yourself which was shortly followed by the launch of an online petition.
Can you share with us what was the turning point for you in making the decision that you needed to take action, in raising the issue of staff welfare and launching the petition to the United Nations, to include staff welfare as a key issue to be addressed on the agenda of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul 2016?
Brendan: Thanks. I guess the key turning point for me was in July this year. Ben Parker of IRIN, wrote an article called Memento Mori, which looked at this issue of aid worker casualties and the dilemma of how do we honor and acknowledge those who were being killed, or wounded, or kidnapped without appearing to value them more than the affected populations.
Aid workers are reticent to promote their own issues, their own wellness, their own agenda because they feel it somehow detracts from the people we help. Parker finishes the IRIN article with the sentence, "How do you honor the sacrifices of aid workers without appearing to value them more than those they serve? I thought about that question. I felt that maybe the answer to that question is to recognize that people are central to the achievement of the humanitarian mission, which is not just the people we serve, but the people who are serving. That they're equal. To invest in aid workers, does in no way shape or form, detract from those we are helping.
After watching that article, I've been in conversation with The Guardian and I wrote an 800-word article for them on this topic. Very quickly that article reached over 4,000 shares and generated a lot of conversation and dialogue on Facebook, on Twitter. So, in consultation with some similar colleagues who asked me, "How to take this agenda forward? I said, "Well, the World Humanitarian Summit is the most appropriate spot right now." That is when I launched the petition.
Nuran: Â With the petition that's circulating widely across the globe currently. It stands at 1,426 signatories, which is fantastic, I had to look at it today. The petition calls on both the United Nations Secretary General and the Emergency Relief Coordinator to address five key points. Can you share with listeners a bit about the five key points and why in particular they have been singled out as fundamental in raising this issue of staff welfare?
Brendan: First of all, for those less familiar with the process, the World Humanitarian Summit is an initiative of the Secretary General. That's why the petition is addressed to that office. The Emergency Relief Coordinator is the official charged with making the Summit happen.
I think the five key points reflect cross-cutting issues around the whole topic of staff welfare and staff wellness. The first one, invest systematically in the physical, mental, and psychological welfare of aid workers. All too often people view this conversation through the lens of critical incidents and post-traumatic stress disorder, rather than saying actually, the stresses, the trauma of aid work has to be addressed holistically from how we recruit our staff in terms of the psychological testing. How we invest in them in terms of training? How can we create a healthy work environment in headquarters or in the field, in terms of something that's free from discrimination, free from sexual harassment, that is free from abuse and bullying; so that when the staff goes to the field, they are fully prepared for that assignment.
When something does happen in the field, we make sure that we fully invest in the security aspects to make sure that we mitigate as many the risk as possible, so that we're only left with the residual risk, which we accept. Then of course, if harmed, we then look after them until they no longer need our care. On the second point, which is to establish a mechanism to ensure all aid workers have access to adequate support in the event of illness or injury.
What prompted this point was many years ago in New York. We learned of colleagues who were contractors to the UN, who were killed. A staff member came around to my office with a yellow envelope asking me if I could donate cash for the personâs children and widow. On one hand it's like great, were doing something. Then also, how terrible is that some young kids depend on my generosity in New York. What happens to their future? You have a huge number of volunteers, particularly I'm thinking of national staff for NGO's or the UN who I don't think have adequate insurance.
I also realized this for my own kids, where I investigated a little while ago that if I had been seriously hurt, perhaps made a quadriplegic or paraplegic as a result of my work in the field, I didn't have adequate insurance to adapt my house and get the care I would need. Imagine how horrific it is as for a volunteer working in Sierra Leone in the Ebola response, and you get sick and die? There is nothing for your family.
Now, if you look some solutions, from purely a business perspective, there's a massive economy at scale. For example, UN needs to have a harmonized insurance, we donât, we have separate insurance policies, which is ridiculous. Secondly if the NGO's would collectively, say 20 of the world's biggest NGOs, and bargain for one comprehensive insurance package, or perhaps set up a global trust, where we cover the needs of those staff who is not on contract. So this point is about looking after these people, which we don't normally think about.
Nuran: Â It comes back to the issue around equity too, which when we talk about humanitarian principles in the way in which we act. We're kind of hypocrites in that sense, where there is inequity in this perfect example. We need to be accountable for that.
Brendan: Â Yeah. What is a red flag for me is I do have friends and colleagues who had been hurt in terrorist attacks in Baghdad, in Afghanistan. They're in the UN, which probably provides some of the best coverage and support, in theory. All of them had been aggrieved in how they were treated and the battles they fight. The lack of support or insurance coverage for them in their illnesses. If the UN, which has a policy that is committed to aid worker wellness isn't delivering, what are the smaller NGOs doing?
Nuran: Nothing.
Brendan: Nothing.
Nuran: Exactly.
Brendan: Definitely, this is equity issue. Also the ... I'll use the word hypocrisy, but I don't think it's intended to be that. If you're injured in Australia or the UK for example, you have a legal duty of care. If a volunteer helps you and they're hurt, you have to cover them.
Nuran: Exactly.
Brendan: Â You have to look after them, right? You have to provide a safe working environment. In the field, they don't do that, right? This is why the case of Steve Dennis, suing NRC for an incident in Dadaab, who is going through the Norwegian courtsm is fascinating. Because, you, as an employer under law, certainly in most European countries, US, Australia have to provide a duty of care and ensure foreseeable risks are mitigated. That is in Dadaab, in Kabul, or when you're in Baghdad. If you fail to do that, you've broken the law because as an international staff member, my redress will be through my national courts. Anyway, my second point will help you address this.
My third point was to support the new core humanitarian standard through the CHS Alliance. I really thought the People In Aid Code of Good Practice was excellent. The more I researched it, very few organizations had actually said, "Yes, we're doing this. We're committed to make that happen."
A lot of organizations I think were trying. Only a handful were delivering, which beg the question is, either "It was too hard" or people were not engaged in the topic. People in Aid Code perhaps wasn't allowed enough voice to get noticed. I'm not sure. We have to get people to say, "This is the common standard of how we look after our staff, get everyone to sign it, and then it becomes the industry standard.â
Nuran: Â Do you think that there will be a shift in that because it's changed, or do you think that it will be pushed under the table as with the People in Aid Code has? Ultimately as you said, organizations have signed up to it, but the commitment has been very much on the superficial level; if we look over the last 15 years in addressing some of the fundamental flaws that should be in place as basic element.
Brendan: Â I don't think any organization, or the system as a whole will address this, unless it's forced to do so. Similarly, we have people who don't adequately look after their staff in terms of pre-deployment, deployment, post-deployment work. Yet donors will still fund them. I would rather donors turn around and say, "Sorry NGO, UN Agency, if you don't meet the standard, if you aren't investing and looking after your staff appropriately, in accordance with best practice, we're not going to give you any money." Again, it's this idea of a hierarchy that the people we help are more important than us. This is also another topic, which links to this. It's the professionalization of humanitarian work.
Nuran: Yes. That's where my concern with this comes because we used the same word around humanitarian effectiveness and with that. All of the debates and discussions that have evolved around this issue, it links very closely to professionalization. Already, there is enough stress and expectations that we place on humanitarian leaders in the field to deliver without even thinking about the fact that these people are human beings, beyond the responsibility of managing a complex emergency. They have personal lives as well. Are we actually putting more, demanding more pressure than on practitioners because we're requesting or demanding what should really be in place to begin with? With that squeeze coming from the donor organizations, again it comes down harder then on practitioners to say, "Well, if we're going to invest in you, rather than it being a mentality of what we should be doing anyways, we expect more in return."
Brendan: Â Which is why this third point to me makes sense. I like the way that People in Aid Code is being merged as part of the CHS Alliance, is that all of the standards do support each other. To deliver effective aid, you have to be looking after your staff. I think that's the more coherent approach. That's the fourth point, I think PHAP is a very good example of this. Perhaps you can even build on what they're doing. There needs to be an external independent entity that represents the interest of aid workers. If you think about in professions in a lot of countries, you had guilds. For example, if you're a plumber in the UK, he's got the guild to look after that. If you are a doctor in Australia, you belong to the Australian Medical Association, which is free you from issues with your employer, who might be the hospital.
We need an independent body that aid workers join up to. That's able to coherently solicit the views of aid workers and advocate for them. This is on things whether it's about insurance, whether it's about professionalization. Anyone can call themselves a humanitarian, not anyone can call themselves a lawyer. What would make somebody humanitarian, or maybe make a distinction, what would make someone an aid worker? Also to the lobbying on this issues, both improves security, etc. because when an agency does it or when staff union does it, in case of the UN or UN agency, it always comes with a particular bias or particular agenda, that's about the institution, not the system. The fifth point, is to establish a mechanism for tracking the well-being of the current and former aid workers, including contracts, volunteers and national staff. Â And there are two elements to this. Humanitarian Outcomes has the Aid Worker Security Database that records major incidents of violence against aid workers.
Nuran: And inside in security as well.
Brendan: Yes. That database is only comprehensive in the sense of reporting. It probably underestimates the toll. That's one issue. Secondly, as we know certainly from emergency services and defense personnel, a lot of the issues related to well-being and health, happen many years later. You could be involved in a critical incident, walk out and say I am perfectly fine. Then five or six years later, you're back in Australia, or you settled somewhere else, and PTSD starts manifesting itself or the lesser forms of burned out, depression, etc., can emerge. Once you're off contract, you're on your own.
Nuran: Exactly.
Brendan: How do we know the scope of the problem if we don't have the data? That's the other issue. We have various studies that had been done on over the years, but there has never been as far as I can see, either a meta analysis of the studies, or a proper valid survey or study of this topic. That's what I would really like to see, for a donor to get behind this survey. It is a problem, let's go and find out what it is. Then we talk about the solutions based on the evidence.
Nuran: Â For me, one of the constants that I've seen over many years both upwards institutionally and then downwards to aid workers is, there's always this push back. What I like to call the blame game where no one wants to take responsibility, because the reality is this is not going to be an easy fix. It's going to require a fundamental shift in our culture and long-term commitment in how we see ourselves, the system, and the world around us. The question is, how are we really ready to commit, to tackling this issue together? Recognizing that it requires a shared level of responsibility with a view to investing long term were needed to really see and be the change we know should be in place. Reflecting on this, what words of advice would you give to those in positions of leadership across the sector and humanitarian practitioners in being active agents for change as a result of your personal experience of working in the sector for the last 15 years?
Brendan: I think, humanitarian leaders need to set a vision and inspire people to follow them to achieve that. Often in the UN and the humanitarian community we have great managers, bad managers, average managers. But a real leader that says:
"I know you don't want to go to this destination, but I'm going to inspire you and you're going to want to travel there with me. We're going to change things together.â Â
In terms of this issue of staff welfare, we need to see a senior humanitarian stand up and seize the issue and lead from the front. There is only so much change that can be driven from the grassroots level to fill the momentum, but at the end of the day to execute that, courage and leadership is required. The courage to listen and to realize that if we do invest in staff, not just in terms of their welfare, but in terms of the training and professionalization of what we're doing, we will have a much better humanitarian system. We will overcome the inertia, we will overcome cynicism, we will drive change, because people will know there valued. People think they're not valued, and that they simply functionaries. If organizations treat them poorly, you're never going to reshape aid.
Nuran: On that note, I'm going to say, Brendan, thank you so much for taking time to share your critical reflections with Emergency AIDio listeners on the current challenges and dynamics surrounding mental health and well-being for aid workers. It's been really great to listen to your journey and commitment to raising the issue of staff welfare. It's not an easy battle, but it's great to see people like yourself that are getting behind and are committed to try and make a change in this space. Thank you.
Brendan: Â Thanks very much. It's been a great conversation, very stimulating, and I look forward to talk to you again.
Nuran: Â Thank you. Now, I really want to stress that there are very few moments in time like this right now to make our voices hard as a collective community. Don't let this opportunity pass you by. We all need to take responsibility to ensure that the environment we work is safe, and values us as human beings by investing and prioritizing in mental, physical, and psychological welfare of staff and volunteers. Make sure you sign up to the petition. The link to the petition will be posted on thehealthynomad.org website under the Emergency AIDio page. You can also follow the great work that Brendan is doing by hitting over to his website, http://7piliers.com.
This blog has been verified by Rise: R244cd86571b513dab123786cb22c929f
What did you say about keeping aid workers healthy and safe?
The World Humanitarian Summit Synthesis Report Backs Calls To Improve Aid Worker Wellness in Istanbul
Are you curious about how aid organisations could improve the health and safety of their staff? Or about what the World Humanitarian Summit consultations have to say about aid worker security? The responses to these questions are just some of the key findings among the wealth of information contained in the World Humanitarian Summitâs report, Restoring Humanity: Synthesis of the Consultation Process for the World Humanitarian Summit. Â
What the Synthesis Report has to say is encouraging; but itâs just not enough by itself.
âImproving the safety and security of aid workers is a priority concern. It requires building trust with armed groups, traditional leaders, government, and other local stakeholders; effective communication strategies on humanitarian action and safety and security of aid workers under international law; adherence to humanitarian principles; security management systems commensurate with the local level of threat; and ensuring staff are adequately trained in security management.â
As aid workers we must now have an honest discussion about the current state of health and safety in the sector, where we want to be â and how, exactly, we are going to get there.
This is bigger than the World Humanitarian Summit alone; itâs also bigger than our individual employers and donors. Only by working together will we be able to tackle all of these issues raised on aid worker health and safety in the Synthesis Report. The severity of the situation, and the fact that it has gone on for decades, necessitates a mindset change, a cultural shift that can happen only with buy-in from across the system. We cannot afford to miss the opportunity the World Humanitarian Summit provides.
What could be more deserving of the attention of humanitarian leaders than reducing the number of aid workers who never come home while increasing our capacity to deliver aid?Â
This question needs to be answered before we get to Istanbul next May.
ENSURE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF AID WORKERS
 The 2014 statistics for aid worker security show high levels of violence against civilian aid workers, with national staff accounting for the vast majority of those attacked and killed. The consultations robustly condemned these attacks and called for measures to increase the safety and security of humanitarian workers.  In particular, international humanitarian actors should assess the risk transferred to local partner organizations and take greater responsibility for their security. The consultations also made specific mention of attacks against healthcare personnel, and of the gender dimensions of these attacks.
 A number of proposals emerged from the consultations to improve the safety and security of aid workers: building trust with armed groups, traditional leaders, government, and other local stakeholders; developing and implementing effective communication strategies on humanitarian action and safety and security of workers under international law; adherence to humanitarian principles; ensuring that security management systems commensurate with the local level of threat are in place and adaptive to change; and ensuring staff are trained in security management and are aware of good risk and security management practices.
STRENGTHEN ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMANITARIAN WORKERS
Submissions also called for the systematic inclusion of specific clauses strengthening accountability for the protection of humanitarian workers into the Humanitarian Plans of donors for all countries, more robust and systematic monitoring of attacks against aid workers, and specific analysis on attacks against healthcare workers.
AFFECTED COMMUNITIES NEED HEALTHY AID WORKERS
The consultations noted that effective support to communities in need requires healthy and competent aid workers. Studies show that international humanitarian workers suffer from high levels of anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression and burnout. The increased vulnerability of national humanitarian workers was also noted. According to the Headington Institute, while studies vary widely, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rates among aid workers range from 8-43 per cent, major depression from 8-20 per cent and anxiety from 8-29 per cent. For example, a recent study by Antares Foundation noted that 30 per cent of aid workers return from deployment with symptoms of PTSD
INVEST SYSTEMATICALLY IN THE PHYSICAL, MENTAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELFARE OF STAFF
While sporadic research exists, staff support is not based on or improved through systematic collection or analysis of data on these issues. The consultations emphasized the need for humanitarian organizations to invest systematically in caring for the physical, mental and psychological welfare of their staff. They called for standardized organizational policies and procedures on the psychosocial care of both international and national staff, echoing the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) on Quality and Accountability, which calls for staff to be supported to do their job effectively, and treated fairly and equitably.
This effort should include adequate levels of support before, during and after humanitarian operations, such as psycho- social assessments, proactive engagement and wellness services for staff working in hardship stations, de-stigmatizing psychosocial care and counselling, strengthened standard operating procedures for immediate actions for those exposed to an attack, including procedures for leave, immediate and continued access to trained stress and peer counsellors, continued access to psychosocial healthcare after employment when post-traumatic stress symptoms often appear, as well as long-term human resource policies and staff rotation for international staff who have served in hardship duty stations. Although such interventions require donor funding, a first step is recognition and dialogue about the problem, as well as initiatives to better collect and analyze information and link results to support services.
STRENGTHEN THE ROLE OF DONORS
The consultations emphasized the role of donors in driving change, calling for the allocation of a percentage of their funds to staff well-being support packages, and for funding to be contingent on commitment to the CHS.
IMPROVE ACCOUNTABILITY AND ADDRESS IMPUNITY
Participants also called for greater global oversight and accountability of staff welfare, for example by establishing a Global Humanitarian Association to advocate for the rights of aid workers and their families, creating a mechanism to track the well-being of current and former aid workers, including contractors and volunteers and national staff, and improving technical expertise on staff welfare. Â
p.106Â World Humanitarian Summit secretariat, Restoring Humanity: Synthesis of the Consultation Process for the World Humanitarian Summit (New York, United Nations, 2015) Â
5 Arguments Against Taking Care of Aid Workers
Why should the United Nations and NGOs take care of Aid Workers?
In the four weeks since my article, Humanitarian agencies need to stop failing their staff on mental health, was published in The Guardian, people from across the humanitarian sector have expressed support for my petition and the need to comprehensively look at the issue of wellness. However, a number of people have also argued that this issue should not be addressed. Â
None of their arguments are logical or evidence-based. In this post I will not restate my premise; I am interested in a different game. Â The hidden point here is that virtually all of us in the aid sector argue this way â albeit with more refinement â when staff safety, health or welfare is discussed. Â
A lot of the more innocent-sounding arguments against improving the wellness of aid workers come worryingly close to committing the same fallacies, as do these quite transparent and, I would dare say, offensive ones. Â
Here are five of their arguments:
1. âI have zero sympathy for UN staff who are paid extremely well. They donât deserve any additional support.â
On the face of it this does not appear to be a logical argument, if only because arguments about staff welfare need to be cosmopolitan in essence. To simply say that UN staff are well-paid, and by inference, able to either withstand the mental health pressures of aid work, or that monetary compensation suffices, is not the strongest of arguments.
This argument also ignores efforts by the UN and non-UN humanitarian partners to address staff health, safety and security, especially in emergencies. In 2007, the Inter Agency Standing Committee, a forum established under the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/182, issued Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial support in Emergency Settings. These guidelines, which were signed by the Director of OCHA Geneva, stated:
âMany aid workers experience insufficient managerial and organisational support, and they tend to report this as their biggest stressor. Moreover, confrontations with horror, danger and human misery are emotionally demanding and potentially affect the mental health and well-being of both paid and volunteer aid workers, whether they come from the country concerned or from abroad.
The provision of support to mitigate the possible psychosocial consequences of work in crisis situations is a moral obligation and a responsibility of organisations exposing staff to extremes. For organisations to be effective, managers need to keep their staff healthy. A systemic and integrated approach to staff care is required at all phases of employment â including in emergencies â and at all levels of the organisation to maintain staff well-being and organisational efficiency.
The word âstaffâ ... refers to paid and volunteer, national and international workers, including drivers and translators, affiliated with an aid organisation, support measures should in principle be equal for national and international staff.â
As recently as last year, in an April 2014 meeting of the UNâs High-Level Committee on Management, there was a wide ranging discussion on how to reconcile duty of care for UN personnel while operating in high risk environments. This not only included discussions on how to look at the psychological dimensions arising from working in an insecure environment, but also issues of after-service care for survivors and families, and follow up in terms of indictment and prosecution for perpetrators of attacks on UN staff.
2. âYou have a fat chance of changing anything; senior managers donât think it is important.â
 This argument is invalid for a number of reasons. Simply thinking something will never change, is not a reason to never demand change. The aid sector is changing; it is continuously looking at how we can be better at our jobs.  As noted by âJâ in a recent AidSpeak post, Take Care, there is a growing âmovement within and around the industry to recognize the legitimate needs of aid and development workers.â The fact that over 1,340 people have signed a petition to address staff welfare at the World Humanitarian Summit is an indication of this, as are the number of public submissions to the World Humanitarian Summit on the topic of staff wellness .
ACF International - Statement: Solutions to reshape aid must address the urgent need to Protect Aid WorkersÂ
CHS Alliance - Caring for Staff MattersÂ
McDonald - Address Aid Worker Welfare at the WHS 2016Â
Nobert - Sexual violence against and within the humanitarian communityÂ
PHAP - Humanitarian effectiveness and staff wellnessÂ
In addition, deferring to the wisdom of senior managers on this matter is dangerous and contrary to the egalitarian nature of aid work. For UN staff, our core competencies require us to actively seek out ways to improve programmes or services, as well as stand âby decisions that are in the Organizationâs interest, even if they are unpopular.âÂ
The UN and non-UN humanitarian partners have already endorsed the need to address staff wellness through the IASC, and therefore to advocate for humanitarian organisations to apply their own policies is not only legitimate, it is the right thing to do.
3. âHow can you argue for improving wellness for aid workers? The priority is the people affected by conflicts, not you!â
Aid workers cannot serve affected persons well if we are not well. Aid doesnât happen without aid workers. If aid workers arenât well, then aid wonât be delivered well.
As Frida Fostvedt recently tweeted, âThe last thing someone running from war needs is a neurotic aid workerâ
To argue that âpriority is the people affected by conflictsâ and not âaid-workersâ is broadly non-egalitarian. It infers that people affected by conflicts ought to have a relatively higher weight of attention and care because they are our benefactors in a gift-exchange relationship. This is wrong. As Alessandra Pigni says, âthis is not a contest to see who can suffer the most.âÂ
At the end of the day, aid workers deserve to be given the same attention that we demand of the people we are seeking to help. To again quote âJâ âwe have to disabuse ourselves and everyone in our spheres of influence of this falsely dichotomous choice between taking care of aid workers (us) and delivering more life-sustaining aid to those who need it most.â
4. âIf you ask donors to fund wellness programmes, they wonât.â
To consistently apply this argument across the aid sector is absurd as it implies that we should not ask donors to fund nearly half of the current humanitarian aid programs, given that 63% of humanitarian response plan activities this year are not funded. We should also not ask donors to fund education, early recovery or livelihoods activities given they are consistently under-funded in appeals year after year. Â
41 donors have in fact committed themselves, through the Good Humanitarian Donorship group, to âpromote the use of Inter-Agency Standing Committee guidelines and principles on humanitarian activities,â which inter-alia includes the Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial support in Emergency Settings.Â
Donors also stated âthat implementing humanitarian organisations fully adhere to good practice and are committed to promoting accountability, efficiency and effectiveness in implementing humanitarian action.â Good practice, efficiency and effectiveness includes investing systematically in caring for the physical, mental and psychological welfare of aid workers (the business case for this is discussed in my bog post, You canât fully #ReShapeAid with Sick Aid Workers).
5. âIf you donât like your job, quit. There is a mile-long queue of people behind you waiting to fill your shoes.â
It doesnât matter if there are a thousand people willing to fill the shoes of one aid worker, they too deserve to work in a healthy, safe and secure environment. No humanitarian or development worker would advocate to stop ILO promoting International Labour Standards on the basis that there are queues of unemployed masses willing to work in unsafe and dangerous jobs, so why would an aid worker advocate this approach within the humanitarian sector.
 Amongst the overwhelming positive messages I have received in support of my petition to improve aid worker wellness, I liked this one the most:
âWhat I like about your article is that it shows some respect for aid workers who are good enough to be employed in emergencies, but somehow arenât good enough to receive care to make sure there is nothing wrong with themâŚâ
To support the inclusion of aid worker wellness on the agenda of the World Humanitarian Summit, sign the petition.
You canât fully #ReShapeAid with Sick Aid Workers
The business case for investing in aid worker wellness programmes.
Last July I deployed to Iraq to support the management of the OCHA Country Office and report on how UN Agencies were using a $500 million dollar grant from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Â In a matter of days the situation and my mission changed dramatically.
That month the State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) rapidly conquered considerable territories in northern Iraq and were rapidly approaching Erbil. On 3 August ISIL attacked Kurdish-held territory in northern Iraq, capturing three towns close to the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, including Sinjar and neighbouring settlements.
An estimated 200,000 civilians, mostly Yazidis along with Shia and some Kurds, fled the fighting in and around Sinjar city and headed towards Dohuk.  It was estimated that 50,000 of those Yazidis fled into the Sinjar Mountains,⪠where they were trapped without food, water or medical care,⪠facing dehydration and possible starvation. As a result, on 7 August the U.S. military started humanitarian airdrops of food, water, and medicine for the civilians on Sinjar Mountain. The next day, 8 August, the U.S. military began airstrikes against ISIL positions in Iraq, including just outside of Erbil.
UNOCHA, Map - Humanitarian Displacement Iraq 8 August 2015
In the days that followed the capture of Sinjar by ISIL, Arabic speaking OCHA staff, as well as national staff from IOM and WHO, were in the OCHA office speaking with Yazidis displaced from Sinjar. Some of these people were in the mountains, others, including a group of women and children were in small settlements to the south of Sinjar mountain, surrounded by ISIL. Â We were focused on trying to ascertain their humanitarian situation so that we could plan a humanitarian response, even though in reality there was little we could do. It was far too dangerous for aid workers to directly deliver aid into ISIL controlled areas; the social media images and videos of their atrocities were all too real. Too many people, including aid workers and journalists, had been captured and brutally murdered.
OCHA Iraq Country Office, Erbil, 2014. TweetDeck, for monitoring social media, is on the television in the background. Š Brendan McDonald
Throughout August, staff worked incredibly long hours to collect and analyse information on the situation in and around Sinjar. I clearly recall the calmness of a particular staff member, who himself was from a country in conflict, talking to a group of Yazidi women surrounded by ISIL. We both knew there was nothing that we could do to directly help them as humanitarians. At best we could tell their story. Although we did pass the information on to those who possibly could do something, within a few days their phones went silent. Our live monitoring of social media was full of horrific stories of Yazidis being executed or captured by ISIL or sold as slaves. We imagined the worst.
Outside the walls of the UNAMI compound, aid workers, mostly Iraqis, were responding directly to the massive influx of people into Dohuk and other governorates. What the Yazidis and other Iraqis experienced at the hands of ISIL was horrendous. Words fail to fully describe what had transpired. By mid-August that humanitarian situation on Sinjar Mountain was manageable; by the end of August many of us working in Iraq were emotionally and physically drained. Even though we had not directly experienced what the Yazidis had gone through, in many ways their trauma transferred to us. I did the best I could as a manager to look after my staff with the tools available to me. I enforced compulsory rest days, held team meetings where we talked about the need to âbuddy upâ with a colleague and monitor each other for signs of stress. But this was not enough. Some staff appeared to cope; others less so.
UNAMI Compound, Erbil, 2014. The only place where we could walk alone in Erbil. Š Brendan McDonald
The pace of work in September was also unrelenting. Every day there was news of ISIL atrocities and more displacements. Despite the efforts of hundreds of dedicated aid workers, professionals and volunteers, we were always playing catch up. Like in most high profile emergencies, the media had a field day in criticizing the inadequacy of the response. They were right though; it was inadequate. For aid workers the situation was going to get worse.
On 13 September ISIL released a video showing the brutal murder of David Haines, an ACTED aid worker, in Syria. It was all over the news. The next day, at our weekly general coordination meeting, the ACTED Iraq Country Director spoke about David and his death. I had never met David, but like everyone else in the room, he was an aid worker doing his job. Â As we paused for a minuteâs silence, an overwhelming sense of sadness and loss washed over me. Like a child not wanting to cry in front of his classmates, I bit my inner lip and tried to think of pleasant things. I broke the silence by moving on to the next agenda item, a situation update from UNAMI where we learnt of the previous weekâs death toll across Iraq and the continued march of ISIL towards Baghdad.
A few weeks ago I caught up with a friend I had met in Erbil who was visiting Geneva. Like many international aid workers in Iraq, she had deployed on surge to Iraq from her regular headquarters job in an agency. She had worked three months straight in Erbil. When she was in Iraq she was unable to take a break, as she did not qualify for the UN Rest and Recuperation entitlement as she had only deployed for 12 weeks, not 13. Before she left Erbil she asked her manager in headquarters if she could take a break before returning to work. However, due to pressing work commitments, she was asked to return to work immediately upon her return. She flew out of Erbil on a Friday. On the Monday she returned to her regular job working on humanitarian policy. Upon walking into her office that Monday she was greeted, perhaps partially in jest, with; âwelcome back from your holiday in Iraq, now it is time to do some real work.â
In the months that followed she was unable to take leave. Her manager displayed no interest in what she had experienced, and on the wellness front, she was neither offered nor informed of any support available should she need it. I asked her how she was coping.Â
She said she was doing âfineâ except that she had a constant feeling of fatigue and was totally disengaged at work. She told me that she was simply turning up and going through the motions; doing just enough to âstay out of trouble.â This was the same person who had worked incredibly hard in Iraq and had a great reputation in our small Erbil community. Now she was a different person; tired and disengaged, and no one appeared to care. I know that her story is not unique among aid workers.
But her story got me thinking. What was the cost of such indifference to the wellness of aid workers? Although she was physically at work, her mind was absent. In the literature this is called presenteeism; being on the job, but because of illness or other medical conditions, not fully functioning. According to one study, presenteeism can cut individual productivity by one-third or more.
According to IRIN there are an estimated 450,000 aid workers globally. If presenteeism affects just five percent of aid workers (22,500 people) this reduction in productivity could translate into an equivalent loss of the full-tme equivalent of 7,425 aid worker years per annum. In monetary terms this runs into millions and millions of dollars. I believe that the rate of presenteeism is probably much higher than five percent given the research on mental health issues affecting aid workers and the prevalence of presenteeism in the private sector.Â
In an age where we are urged to do more with less; not addressing this issue is not just unacceptable, it is simply stupid.
The loss of aid worker productivity goes beyond the affected individual. There are other unintended side effects of presenteeism; the morale and motivation of other workers are affected, which in turn reduces their productivity. There is also the opportunity cost of presenteeism. By not treating the underlying mental illness, the quality of the aid workerâs outputs is diminished, irrespective of whether they work in headquarters or in the field. This negatively impacts the affected communities and people we seek to assist, either directly or indirectly. They deserve better than this.
Calculating how much aid worker productivity would increase through reduced presenteeism is difficult to calculate. As far as I am aware there have been no studies specifically looking at the productivity of aid workers, nor could I find a model by which to measure aid worker productivity. This is an area that I would like to see more research in. According to the Harvard Business Review, in the US every dollar invested in wellness programmes yielded $6 in health care savings and considerably reduced staff turnover.  According to the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine for a typical employee, the gain in productive time generated through wellness programmes amounted to about 0.5 percent per annum. If applied to the aid sector this would translate into an additional 2,250 aid worker years per annum.Â
There is another malady that affects aid workers:Â absenteeism. In early 2014 I was burnt-out. According to my Psychiatrist, the cumulative effect of working in emergencies had eventually taken its toll on my personal and professional life. The symptoms were there well before medical intervention was required, but I was not smart enough to recognise them, nor were my colleagues. The two months of medical leave worked wonders, and as a person who was once skeptical of therapy, I admit in hindsight that it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. But those two months came at a cost. My organization lost two months worth of output from a P5 Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer. If we had a comprehensive wellness programme in place, it is probable that I would not have been burnt out. But I am not the only aid worker to take sick leave because of work-induced, stress-related illness.
A 2009 People in Aid study looked at 20 aid organisations. The report concluded that maintaining a healthy working environment is sine qua non for reducing absenteeism. In a 2007 report, the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit noted that at various duty stations, a number of sick-leave absences were due to conflict in the workplace, including work-life balance issues. Although not specific to the aid sector, a joint ILO and WHO study showed that psychological and psychiatric disorders were the main cause of absenteeism for both men and women in the European Commission, of which 30 per cent were directly related to work. I am sure that many an aid worker has taken a âmental health dayâ simply because of the stress generated at the workplace.Â
Despite the evidence across sectors demonstrating the benefits of wellness programmes, very few aid agencies have a comprehensive wellness programme, endorsed and supported by senior management, that looks at all aspects of staff wellness on a day-to-day basis, including their physical and psychological wellbeing. Wellness also includes creating a workplace that is free from abusive behavior, sexual harassment, and discrimination (but perhaps that is a whole other topic).
Although aid agencies should introduce wellness programmes simply because it is the right thing to do (i.e. they have a duty of care to their employees), there is another reason that aid agencies should look at wellness programmes. In an age where there is insufficient humanitarian funding for humanitarian programmes; any changes that could reduce indirect costs should be rigorously pursued.
I believe that the introduction of comprehensive wellness programmes may not only increase productivity, it may also reduce health insurance premiums. For example, looking at the UN, in 2004 the total number of contributors in the UN system to health insurance schemes was approximately 84,000 people, with an annual cost exceeding US$305 million. A 2007 report by the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit argued that insurance premiums could be reduced by providing health education and health promotion activities, as well as counseling services on the rational use of health care. A recent CDC study showed that employers could benefit from workplace health programmes through enhanced productivity, decreased employee absenteeism, decreased staff turnover, as well as lower insurance and workers compensation costs.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Benefits of Health Promotion Programs, 2013
As we approach the World Humanitarian Summit next year, the issue of staff wellness must be addressed if we are to fully #ReShapeAid. Frankly, we owe it to the communities affected by crisis to maximise every aid dollar for their benefit.
Allowing preventable presenteeism and absenteeism to continue unchecked is unacceptable and a waste of resources.
This task is an urgent one: until we improve aid worker wellness our humanitarian response to crisis will inevitably be imperfect and inadequate. Itâs unrealistic to expect aid agency senior managers to do this on their own â donors, specialist wellness institutions and organisations, as well as aid workers themselves, have an important role to play. But this task will be made infinitely easier with a simple change of attitude by senior management; all they have to do is recognise that aid workers are central to the achievement of the humanitarian mission and commit to creating a work environment that systematically cares for the physical, mental, and psychological welfare of their staff.
To improve aid worker wellness please consider supporting a petition to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien, and all involved in the World Humanitarian Summit to include the issue of staff wellness on the WHS agenda.
For an insight into the psycho-social impact of working in high stress emergencies, I encourage readers to watch âKick at the Darkness.â The topic is presented through a series of candid interviews with individuals whose experiences span from the 2004 Tsunami, to the bombing of the United Nations building in Iraq, 2005 Pakistan earthquake response, ongoing conflicts in Darfur, South Sudan, Somalia and Chad, the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, and 2013 Typhoon in the Philippines. Source: http://www.amybrathwaite.comÂ
What Would My Perfect Humanitarian Leader Look Like?
Humanitarian Leadership? What is it? Why does it matter?
As a young officer in the Australian Army, I was always taught to look after the soldiers under my command. While undergoing one of many training exercises in the North Queensland jungle, part of my evening routine consisted of visiting each soldier, asking how they were, and examining their bare feet with my hands for signs of infection due to the high humidity and almost non-stop rain. If a soldierâs feet were infected, they were no longer fully functional.
Not that I am suggesting humanitarian leaders look at the bare feet of their aid worker staff, but they must always look after the welfare of those whose care they are in charge of. In the aid world, the mind of the aid worker is the equivalent of the soldierâs feet. If aid workers are going to effectively support communities and people affected by crisis their wellness must be a priority.
OCHA Iraq Office, Erbil, 11 November 2014 Š Brendan McDonaldÂ
Like in any walk of life, in the humanitarian field there are good and bad leaders, just as there are good and bad managers. Although we all respond differently to leaders, most aid workers are very quick to recognise good leadership when they see it. In my mind, leadership is about influencing others to accomplish something they would not otherwise achieve. Delivering an outcome simply by telling people what to do by virtue of a personâs position is not leadership; that is management.
FC Bartlett, in his 1927 book Psychology and the Soldier, described three types of leaders:
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Institutional: the person who maintains their authority mainly by virtue of the established social prestige attaching to their position;
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Dominant: the person who maintains their authority mainly by virtue of their personal capacity to impress and dominate his followers; and
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Persuasive: the person who maintains their authority mainly by virtue of their personal capacity to express and persuade his followers.
As an aid worker, and before that in the military, most leaders I encountered have been of the institutional or dominant varieties. Quite rare was the persuasive leader. Of the three types of leaders, I want my perfect humanitarian leader to be persuasive. Â But what would this look like in practice. Â Military leaders over the centuries give us some clues:
Xenophon, in 400 BC, wrote about the importance of a leader to keep an âever a wakeful eye in the interest of those under him.â
Brigadier Maunsell wrote in 1947 about the need for a leader to know his men well âand be known to them.â He went on to say that a key element of leadership was to gain confidence of those that you lead by being âinterested in their welfare,â and âalways be cheerful with them, however you may feel.â
Field Marshal Viscount William Slim, in an address to West Point in 1953, said that to be a good leader:
âyou have got to have complete integrity...You have got to be honest, not only with yourself but with the men you lead and the people with whom you work; and honesty and integrity are things that you cannot compromiseâŚif you do, you will lose confidence and you will not be able to lead...â
He also went on to say that leadership was about people:
âNothing more radical is suggested here than that the leader who would make certain of the fundamental soundness of his operation cannot do better than concentrate his attention on his menâŚThe art of leading, in operations large or small, is the art of dealing with humanity, of working diligently on behalf of men, of being sympathetic with themâŚYet how often do we hear an executive praised as an âefficient administratorâ simply because he can keep a desk cleared, even though he is despised by everyone in the lower echelons and cannot command a fraction of their loyalty!â
General Norman Schwarzkopf wrote about the importance of a leader doing âwhat is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good.â
General Omar Bradley wrote, âno leader knows it all (although you sometimes find one who seems to think he does!). A leader should encourage the members of his staff to speak up if they think the commander is wrong. He should invite constructive criticism. It is a grave error for the leader to surround himself with a âyesâ staff.â
Drawing on my experience, and the teachings of famous leaders, the main indicators for my perfect humanitarian leader are:
⢠They articulate a noble vision whose achievement is vital for the communities and people affected by crisis.
⢠They are active and passionate in pursuit of their vision.
⢠They direct all efforts towards the vision and discard activities that work against it.
⢠They convince aid workers that the vision is achievable.
⢠They instill confidence; aid workers working for them know that no matter what hardship or dangers they face or suffer, they will be looked after.
⢠They remain calm, polite and always approachable no matter how stressful the situation.
⢠They have integrity; unprofessional, discriminatory or unethical behavior is not tolerated.
⢠They ensure, as far as possible, that aid workers are given the best training, equipment and administrative support for whatever task they are asked to do.
⢠They ensure that the working and living conditions, as well as the security arrangements of aid workers, are as good as they can be in the circumstances.
⢠They demonstrate to the aid workers they lead, that everyone is always treated fairly, without discrimination or favouritism.
⢠They always recruit aid workers - at all levels  - solely on the basis of competence and experience; to do to otherwise harms the communities and people we seek to assist.
⢠They sincerely seek out other aid workerâs ideas and expertise; they know they do not know everything.
⢠They surround themselves with diversity; they encourage subordinates to question their decisions and challenge their thinking. Â
⢠They methodically develop, coach and help the aid workers they lead.
And finally, to paraphrase Bruce Clark, when things go wrong they âstart searching for the reason in increasingly larger concentric circles aroundâ their own desks.
Beyond the Casualty Statistics; the Darker Side of Being an Aid Worker
A few days ago I read an IRIN article by Ben Parker, Memento Mori, on humanitarian aid work and the risks aid workers face in conflicts. Aid agency managers accept the organizational risks of operating in conflict areas; we, as individual aid workers, accept the personal risks. But the risks go way beyond being killed or wounded; there are risks we never really talk about.
The statistics of aid worker casualties affected by attacks is horrific: 2,913 nationals and 544 internationals since 2000. Every time I hear of an attack on aid workers, I say to myself âthere but for the grace of God go I.â Even though I am agnostic, this 16th century saying resonates with me. After 15 years of aid work it is no longer remarkable that I know friends and colleagues that have been killed or wounded. Sadly it is unavoidable; there will be more. Our fate is not entirely in our hands. Â
IRIN, Fewer aid worker attacks. Thatâs good, right?, 13 July 2015
Hidden behind the horrific casualty statistics are the families of aid workers killed or wounded. What happens to them? Who are they? Where are they? I believe that many of them simply disappear from our collective consciousness. Although I donât have any data to support my belief, I assume that many aid workers who are harmed, especially nationals, donât have life insurance, medical insurance, or invalidity coverage. If they do, I doubt it is adequate. Â
A few years ago a well-meaning colleague came into my office with a yellow envelope asking for a donation for a UN contractor who had been killed in a terrorist attack. Contractors are not insured, hence the envelope. Â I was told that he had a wife and a couple of young children. I was aghast. On one hand I was glad that we were doing something; on the other hand I was stunned. Really? The welfare of a widow and her children depended - in part - on my generosity, a UN staff member half a world away.
There are other concealed numbers behind the casualties that we donât talk about enough. What happens to the thousands of aid workers who are exposed to the stress of humanitarian work; bearing witness to the horror of manâs inhumanity? For every aid worker casualty, there are many near misses. Many of us have escaped harm by simply being in the right place at the right time, rather than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not always exposed directly to the trauma of conflict, aid workers experience it through their daily work. The trauma is transferred from the victim to ourselves. Walls are built; emotions are suppressed.
For me, the rote mantras of: drink less, donât smoke, exercise more, and my favourite of recent years, âhave you tried yogaâ donât work for me. If we are honest, we know that as a system what we do for the mental health of aid workers is woefully inadequate.
The Antares Foundation recently put forward that around 30% of aid workers report significant symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) upon returning from assignment. Â A 2013 study by UNHCR showed that 47 percent of surveyed staff stated they had experienced difficult sleeping in the previous month. More alarming, 57 percent reported symptoms consistent with depression.Â
Other studies show that approximately 80 percent of national aid workers experience symptoms of distress, and that 3 to 7 percent find that the symptoms interfere with their performance. A 2012 study of national humanitarian aid workers in northern Uganda by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies revealed that over 50 percent of workers experienced 5 or more categories of traumatic events. Although the authors of the report did not conduct clinical exams, data indicated that 68 percent, 53 percent, and 26 percent of respondents reported symptom levels associated with high risk for depression, anxiety disorders, and PTSD. I am not aware of similar studies, but I believe it is reasonable to assume such findings would be replicated in other emergency contexts.Â
Drawing on extensive studies over the past 50 years on the post-traumatic stress soldiersâ experience, we know that post-traumatic stress can be cumulative and manifest itself many years later. Aid workers can experience similar levels of stress, but without the benefits of the training or support networks many militaries provide (and even they fall short). Unlike most militaries and emergency services around the world, there is rarely, if ever, psychological testing of aid workers before they deploy to humanitarian emergencies or when they return.Â
An armed militiaman, Tripoli, 20 October 2011. Aid workers are often confronted by irregular militias in their line of work. Š Brendan McDonald
Before I went to Iraq last year my high blood pressure and vaccination card were checked; no one asked if I was mentally fit. Instead I voluntary went to see my General Practitioner, someone I trust. There is no systematic approach to the mental health of aid workers or acknowledgment of the stress aid work places on an individual. We never talk about self-harm or suicide rates amongst aid workers. Does the data even exist?
A friend of mine, who was wounded in an incident a few years ago in Africa, told me how isolated and alone they felt after the attack. There were no personal messages from senior managers at headquarters; no acknowledgment of what they had gone through. When seeking confidential advice about how to deal with post-traumatic stress, they were advised not to tell anyone, and to make sure that their medical certificate was from a General Practitioner, not a Psychiatrist. Better to be hurt on the outside, where people can see it, not on the inside. Sadly this story is not an isolated one; post-traumatic stress, depression, burnout, and breakdowns are a very real part of being an aid worker. Â When I experienced burnout a few years, I did not tell my employer. I felt at the time it would have been the death of my career; much better to have leukaemia.
To be fair, it is not as though the humanitarian sector has been idle when looking at issues relating to the health, safety and security of aid workers. Â Some aid agencies do make an effort, but recent research has found that:
"Some aid workers feel the support options offered to them are either inadequate (time-limited or inaccessible), ill-fitting (the available clinicians or programmes offered don't understand or tackle the issues faced) or unsafe (they fear that a call for help could result in professional blemishes on personnel records)." ⌠"Others believe support offered, like a list of self-care tips or brief rest and relaxation, is too simple."Â
Rich McEachran, âAid workers and post-traumatic stress disorder,â The Guardian, 3 March 2014Â
The emergence of specialist NGOs, such as the Mandala Foundation and MINDFULNEXT, is a proxy indicator of the need for more resources for mental health. People in Aid, a 20 year old not-for-profit membership organization, has been advocating, supporting and recognizing good practices in the management of aid workers. The 7th principle of the People in Aid Code states that âwe have a duty of care to ensure the physical and emotional well-being of our staff before, during and on completion of their period of work with us.â
Since the Code was first developed, ten organizations have been verified compliant in the People in Aid Code; a further 40 have a âdesire to continuously improve their HR and people management skills.â Given the number of aid agencies across the world, which must number in the thousands, the low level of commitment to the People in Aid Code is a shocking indictment of the system wide commitment to the welfare of aid workers, notwithstanding the few organisations who are endeavouring to live the code. The UN Secretariat, of which UNOCHA is part of, is not a member of People in Aid, nor do we subscribe to it. To OCHAâs credit, the Management Plan for 2014 - 2017 states that it "will implement staff-welfare policies and initiatives to identify and reduce stress levels, especially in work situations involving extensive exposure to physical and psychological hardship.â This is positive, but is it enough?
In the article Memento Mori Ben Parker asks the question, âHow do you honour the sacrifices of aid workers without appearing to value them more than those they serve?â Â
Maybe the answer is to recognize that âpeople are central to the achievement of our missionâ
Though I do not have all the answers, nor do I underestimate the challenges, here are six suggestions that are worth taking forward if we want to address this issue:
1.   Come out of the closet. We must raise awareness and understanding of the importance of mental health for aid workers. Bring post-traumatic stress, depression, burnout, and breakdowns out of the closet. The welfare of aid workers, as well as those we seek to help, should be on the agenda of the World Humanitarian Summit. #ReShapeAid
 2.   Establish a Global Trust Fund for Aid Workers.  We must move beyond the yellow envelope. We need to establish a fund to ensure that no matter what your contractual status, national or international, if you are an aid worker casualty, there is a safety net for you and your family.
 3.   Support the People in Aid Code. As a starting point, all humanitarian agencies, including the UN Secretariat engaged in humanitarian work, should commit to this code. This does not imply membership of the People in Aid organization, rather a genuine desire to meet minimum standards the code sets. It is mostly about a change in attitude, not additional expenses. Â
 4.   Enforce accountability for the Code.  Pretty simple solution really; donors should only fund organizations committed to the code. Why would a donor fund an organization that doesnât put people central to the achievement of their mission?  Donors have a vicarious liability to ensure the agencies they fund do the right thing when it comes to staff welfare and safety.
5.   United we stand, divided we fall. I know we donât have a global aid worker union or association (now isnât that a wonderful idea!), but collectively, as aid workers, we should demand our employers look after us. If they are not looking after us; we need to demand that they do.
 6.   Adopt a cycle of continous improvement. Keep the People in Aid Code alive and relevant; update it to reflect best practice and new knowledge. Principle 7 is a good starting point, but it can and should go much further.
In 2011, while living and working in the Palm City Compound in Tripoli with the rest of the UN family, the sound of celebratory fire was a constant. One on occasion the compound was attacked, the gun battle taking place about 100m from where my staff and I were sheltering in the hallway.
Selected articles on the mental health of aid workers:
Alessandra Pigni, Aid workersâ mental health: shouting into the wind, MINDFULNEXT, March 2012.
Colleen A. McFarlane, Risks Associated with the Psychological Adjustment of Humanitarian Aid Workers, The Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, 5 April 2004
Ellen Connorton*, Melissa J. Perry, David Hemenway and Matthew Miller; Humanitarian Relief Workers and Trauma-related Mental Illness, Â Oxford University Press, 8 September 2011.
IRIN, HEALTH: Aiding aid workers, IRINnews, 19 August 2010
Robert T. Muller, Mental Health Challenges Faced by Ebola Relief Workers, The Trauma & Mental Health Report, 13 February 2015.
Rosalie Hughesmarch, A Crisis of Anxiety Among Aid Workers, New York Times, 8 March 2015.
Timothy S. Paul, No Relief for Relief Workers: Humanitarian Aid Work Raises Risk of Depression and Anxiety, Columbia University, 1 October 2012.