Necessary Risks

Attacks on humanitarian aid operations are both a symptom and a weapon of modern warfare, and as armed groups increasingly target aid workers for violence, relief operations are curtailed in places where civilians are most in need. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges to humanitarian action in warzones, the risk management and negotiation strategies that hold the most promise for aid organizations, and an ethical framework from which to tackle the problem. By combining rigorous research findings with structural historical analysis and first-person accounts of armed attacks on aid workers, the author proposes a reframed ethos of humanitarian professionalism, decoupled from organizational or political interests, and centered on optimizing outcomes for the people it serves.

Draws on a substantial empirical evidence base amassed from a long-running applied research program Includes a pragmatic overview and analysis, derived from the author's field and applied research experience as an expert consultant to the humanitarian sector Merges the important but abstract concepts of humanitarian principles, values and ethics with concrete examples and the use (and strong defense) of data evidence

Autorentext

Abby Stoddard is an international humanitarian policy analyst and former aid worker. She is a founding partner of the research group Humanitarian Outcomes, where she advises governments and international agencies on issues in humanitarian action, with a particular focus on risk and operational security for aid operations.

Inhalt

1. Tracking the Toll: Measuring Violence Against Aid Workers.- 2. Today's Wars and the Challenge to Humanitarian Neutrality.- 3. Contending with Non-state Forces.- 4. When States Fail.- 5. Organizational Impediments.- 6. It's Not About Us: Addressing the Security Dilemma with the Ethics of Professionalism.