We condemn the massacre of Humanitarian
Aid workers in Sri Lanka.
Countries have so far shown little motivation
to do what needs to be done. The situation has been made grim by the collapse
of the United Nations Small Arms Review Conference on 8 July 2006. Relief
workers - those who have dedicated their own lives to protecting civilians
- need to be protected. BUT HOW?
The recent massacre of 15 NGO workers in Sri Lankaraises, once again, the specter of the safety of aid workers in conflict zones.
The bodies of the 11 men and 4 women were found lying face down in their office in the town of Muttur, the centre of fighting between government forces and the Tamil Tiger rebels. The 15 aid workers, all local Tamil civilians working for the French NGO, Action Contre la Faim (ACF), were wearing their ACF T-shirts, which clearly indicated that they were humanitarian relief workers. All had bullet wounds. They had gone to Muttur to assist the refugee settlement and were unable to return to Trincomalee due to heavy fighting.
The thousands of homeless tsunami survivors who still depend on international aid organizations for their daily lives have the additional trauma of the possibility of the NGOs pulling out for safety of their staff.
In Sudan Eight aid workers died last month as fighting among Sudanese factions increased. Many of the attacks happened while workers were helping suffering populations. "The situation is made even more serious by the fact that the need for humanitarian assistance is increasing while our ability to respond is being ever more restricted" said Manuel da Silva, the U.N. deputy special representative in Sudan.
Unidentified assailants killed a Canadian national in the Nahrin district of Baghlan Province, in Afghanistan. The victim was working on a project to build a school in Nahrin.
Humanitarian aid workers experience among the highest homicide rates in the world. Between 1997 and 2003, 291 aid workers were killed in acts of violence. Over 1000 United Nations (UN) personnel, including peacekeepers, were killed on duty between 1992 and 2001.
The Humanitarian Dialogue and the Small Arms Survey shows that aid workers in conflict situations often live in violent security environments, surrounded by military forces, police, private security forces, organized criminal factions, rebel groups and heavily armed civilians (including child soldiers).
The Security and Risk in Humanitarian and Development Action Study comparing respondents in South East Asiawith their counterparts in the Balkans, found that respondents worked in a variety of security environments. Sri Lanka and the Philippines were on average rated as being the most violent or conflict-prone, while Thailand and Laos were rated as having the lowest levels of armed violence.
Despite working in dangerous environments, many personnel indicated that they had not received any security training within the organization for which they currently worked. The frequency of reported security training did not always correspond to the level of violence in a given environment, to the estimated prevalence and misuse of small arms, or to the level of personal threat expressed. In many organizations, national staff are half as likely as expatriates to receive security training.
The importance of training cannot be overstated. The survey revealed that those who received security training viewed it as being helpful especioally due to heightened knowledge awareness of necessary precautions.