University of Washington Security During Disaster or Humanitarian Aids Responses

University of Washington Security During Disaster or Humanitarian Aids Responses

University of Washington Security During Disaster or Humanitarian Aids Responses

Response to at least to classmates’ posts What role does security play during a disaster or humanitarian response? How is the response/recovery impacted by security concerns? 1st 1 day ago Week 11 Dani Kloepper COLLAPSE Security and safety for both responders and those effected by a disaster is a cornerstone of a successful response. Insecurity complicates response for both the victims and the responders in disaster situations. Take for example the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC—treatment units, community health workers, and patients are threatened with violence, which further complicates the containment of the disease (News, 2019). As the manager of an Emergency Department, my staff are put in situations that threaten their safety on a daily basis. Studies indicate that 75% of workplace violence occurs in the healthcare setting annually, with the majority occurring in the emergency department (Wallace, 2019). We have created protocols and safety mechanisms to prevent harm to our staff, but sometimes a situation is unavoidable. We staff security 24-7, have a police officer 24-7, and require of our patients and visitors go through a metal detector. If a patient appears particularly high-risk or volatile, security searches their belongings. We teach our nurses the same principles of EMS—(1) Is this situation safe for YOU (2) Is the scene/environment safe? (3) Is the patient safe? We have also created a culture where it is okay to say NO. Obviously, this is all well and good in a well-resourced, and controlled environment, but my point is creating a culture where safety of the responder and patients are prioritized, as well as fail-safe mechanisms to prevent unsafe situations, is vital to security and a successful response. You must be proactive, not reactive. And you must give responders the ability to say no. When I worked in West Africa during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, security was an ongoing concern. One time I was in the “hot zone” and some unrest developed around the local healthcare worker’s not receiving their paychecks from the government on time. Essentially a riot started, and we had to remain in the hot zone until it was safe to come out. The treatment unit was also on lock-down for a number of hours, which effected patient care. We did not have any policies, procedures, or contact information for security at the time, and had to then go and create a better proactive system—which required more resources and more funding. NGOs must have safety and security protocols and standards, specific to the region and disaster to which they are responding. As mentioned previously, security preparedness requires resources and funding that must be budgeted for and made readily available when a circumstance demand. There must also be a culture that also responders to speak up and say no; creating more victims only stresses the response more. References News, U. (2019, November 4). Ebola emergency chief decries new attacks on frontline staff, after DR Congo worker death. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/11/1050551 Wallace, S. (2019, May 12). Violence Against Healthcare Workers: A Rising Epidemic. American Journal of Managed Care: AJMC. 2nd The Role of Security in Humanitarian Response and Its Impacts No doubt, security plays a significant role in disasters. Since it is known that wars have been the most significant cause of disasters in many different countries around the globe, ensuring the security of the affected courtiers will likely be complicated (Wisner & Adams, 2002). When a conflict starts in a country, it will adversely result in massive damages among the affected community and make it challenging or even impossible for humanitarian organizations to deploy their responders due to the lack of safety and security. It is thus critical to ensure the safety of the scene by securing the responders effectively before responding to such an area in which war has taken place. In Yemen, for instance, since the 2015 ongoing conflict started between Houthi and the Yemen government, there has been a significant issue regarding safety and security (Kmietowicz, 2017). For example, many humanitarian aid workers have been kidnaped and killed while trying to reach those who in need (Roth, 2018). Therefore, security in a disaster or humanitarian response has a crucial function in saving the responder’s life. The insecurity in Yemen also has adversely impacted the civilian population. Thousands of people died, and more are injured during the conflict. The wounded people are in need of treatment, yet they have not treated because Houthi rebels are blocking humanitarian access. One such example of a solution to secure the humanitarian responders in Yemen is a political pressure from such the UN Security Council on Houthi to remove its blockages from the areas in which those on need locate. After ensuring the security, the humanitarian organizations will likely deploy their workers smoothly to support those in need. It is thus clear that security concerns can adversely impact humanitarian response. The Adverse Impacts of Insecurity Among Aid Workers The high level of insecurity in the affected communities reflects the difficulty of aid workers to support who are in need. The Aid Worker Security Report 2019 has highlighted the adverse humanitarian outcomes around the globe (Stoddard, Harvey, Czwarno & Breckenridge, 2019). One such adverse outcome is that last year, more than 400 aid workers were harmfully affected by extreme violence in more than 200 different attacks. In the last two decades, over 250 UN civilian staff workers and more than 2000 uniformed personnel have been killed due to malicious acts (Van Brabant, 2012). Stoddard et al. (2019) state that South Sudan and Syria have had the highest number of violent attacks as well as the highest percentage of aid worker victims. Further, in the future, I foresee that the number of aid workers victims will likely continue to increase if there is no further action from such the UN Security Council to secure the aid workers. References Kmietowicz, Z. (2017). Humanitarian leaders call for “redoubling” of aid for crisis engulfing Yemen. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 358, j3622–j3622. Retrieved from https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3622. Roth, K. (2018). World Report 2018: Rights Trends in Yemen. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/yemen. Stoddard, A., Harvey, P., Czwarno M., & Breckenridge., MJ. (2019). Aid Worker Security Report 2019. Retrieved fromhttps://www.humanitarianoutcomes.org/AWSDR2019 Van Brabant, K. (2012). Incident statistics in aid worker safety and security management: using and producing them. In European Interagency Security Forum. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5770df60f7e0abe5ca052566/t/57bb2 30ad2b8576c9793fe04/1471882017796/2006-Koenraad-Van-Brabant-2012EISF_Incident-Statistics-in-Aid-Worker-Safety-and-Security-Management.pdf Wisner, B., & Adams, J. (2002). Environmental health in emergencies and disasters a practical guide. Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/philau/detail.action?docID=284759 3rd Security and safety during a disaster or humanitarian response should be a top priority from the responding agencies. Not only is security needed for the people affected, but the workers who are coming to the area. In some parts of the world, security for disaster response is very critical, meaning that it is a high crime area. A video recalled this summer of kidnapped aid workers in Nigeria pleading for their lives video surfaced (Paquette, 2019). The five people in the video were abducted while feeding the displaced groups (Paquette, 2019). Nigeria has the highest rate of abductions of foreign visitors than anywhere in the world (Paquette, 2019). This example can be seen throughout several countries, aid workers have been abducted, held for ransom, or killed. It is easy to infer why aid workers’ security is often compromised during disaster response. Political or civil unrest, food insecurity are often stressors that lead to a higher risk area of safety concern. In general, countries with a lower GDP per capita had higher aid worker attacks than countries with higher GDPs (Hoelscher & Miklian & Nygård, 2015). Security, to me, it also includes public health safety, such as free from disease, infection, and has access to vital needs. While some of these may be hard to guarantee, it is essential that safety measures are in place to protect these necessities. Aid workers also get sick with whatever infection they are trying to stop the spread of. An example would be the Ebola Zaire outbreak of 2014; many aid workers died from contracting the virus. Protection of aid workers must be taken seriously to mitigate the acts of violence towards them; some acts are seen, such as kidnapping, while some are not such as infections. Security risks are not the same for every disaster or humanitarian aid crisis; it is crucial that proper training is tailored to each specified region. I think responding agencies have become more committed to protecting their aid workers by offering training services on how to handle certain situations. Also, some agencies have the support of the countries’ military who are supposed to be a deterrent from acts of aggression. I think that this can impact response because the military is a constant reminder that at any moment, things can go wrong. This is especially true in political unrest areas where the citizens are trying to reject their government. This can be either uncomfortable for the aid workers who always have to look over their shoulders or, it can be comforting knowing that someone is watching their back. If the affected area becomes too dangerous, workers most likely would have to be removed from that region. This would then leave a gap in public health, further leading the citizens of the affected area in harmful conditions. I think this is why agencies need to focus on allowing the residents to rebuild and increase resilience from within. This, in turn, will reduce the amount of dependency that some countries have on outside aid organizations. References Hoelscher, K., Miklian, J., & Nygård, H. M. (2017). Conflict, Peacekeeping, and Humanitarian Security: Understanding Violent Attacks Against Aid Workers. International Peacekeeping, 24(4), 538–565. doi: 10.1080/13533312.2017.1321958 Paquette, D. (2019, July 25). Kidnapped aid worker in Nigeria pleads for her life on video: ‘We have families.’ Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/kidnapped-aid-worker-in-nigeria-pleadsfor-her-life-on-videowe-have-families/2019/07/25/517a3d2e-aed4-11e9-b07194a3f4d59021_story.html. 4th 2 days ago week 11 Haifa-Mohammed Alhazmi COLLAPSE What role does security play during a disaster or humanitarian response? Aid workers during humanitarian response face varying levels of risk in carrying out their work globally such as verbal and/or sexual harassment and unwanted attention, theft and transportation-related accidents. Moreover, serving as a Volunteer overseas entails certain safety and security risks. Living and traveling in an unfamiliar environment, a limited understanding of the local language and culture. Stressful and risky situations are inevitable in humanitarian works. So, security plays a significant role, that why there is much that can and must be done to mitigate the risks of illness, injury, stress, burnout, and critical incidents for aid worker. Maintaining the safety of staff is paramount that why the employing organizations should ensure that the security, health, and safety of all staff are appropriately protected as far as is possible. For example, during the pre-service phase, the Peace Corps typically places trainees with local families to aid in cultural integration and language acquisition. Trainees develop an awareness of their new environment, build their capacity to cope with the challenges they may face. Safety training covers: understanding risks associated with serving abroad, accessing services available to Volunteers who are victims of crime, safely utilizing public transportation and identifying emergency plans How is the response/recovery impacted by security concerns? Insecurity for Humanitarian workers results in unequal coverage of needs. For example, humanitarian operations were seen to cluster in more secure areas, irrespective of the relative level of needs of the populations (Stoddard, A, 2017). Moreover, insecurity limits affected in aid operations. For example, South Sudan overtook Afghanistan as the country with the highest number of violent attacks against aid workers. A total of 74 aid workers have been killed since independence, and 108 seriously injured. So, that violence against aid workers affects the quality and quantity of assistance (Harmer, 2017). Peace Corps. The Peace Corps works in some of the least developed countries in some of the most remote parts of the world. Retrieved from: https://www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/health-and-safety/safety-and-security/ Stoddard, A., Jillani, S., Caccavale, J., Cooke, P., Guillemois, D., & Klimentov, V. (2017). Out of Reach: How Insecurity Prevents Humanitarian Aid from Accessing the Neediest. Stability: International Journal of Security and Development, 6(1), 1. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/sta.506 Harmer, A (January 2017). The effects of insecurity on aid operations in South Sudan, Humanitarian Practice Network. Retrieved from: https://odihpn.org/magazine/effects-insecurity-aid-operations-south-sudan/ 5th 2 days ago Week 11 Anne Graf COLLAPSE The roles of security during a post-disaster or humanitarian response to protect the livelihood of the responders as well as maintain peace while humanitarian goods are distributed. Areas of conflict have become increasingly dangerous for humanitarian aid workers. Take for example South Sudan, one of the most dangerous countries for humanitarian aid workers to be (UN News, 2018). The U.S. State Department and the U.N. keeps surveillance of South Sudan warring parties to assess the risk that humanitarian workers are at. When it is believed to be too dangerous, messages from the surveying parties are given to the workers who then activate their emergency plans or evacuations plans (Grant, 2016). Unfortunately, sometimes communication proves ineffective, resources to help distressed workers are low or threats have been overlooked or snuck pass surveillance parties. It is important to have security when distributing humanitarian goods to maintain peace as crowds of people in need could result in a riot. It is vital that distributing humanitarian goods be done orderly as to prevent fights over food or ambushes for humanitarian goods. A simulation of the role of security was done to train Qatari Armed forces on how to maintain peace in humanitarian distribution sites. It was important to stress the difference of training armed forces from being in combat versus peacekeeping operations. The different simulations were unrest in the people waiting to receive goods; rebel forces trying to hijack the goods and a fire broke out (Bedard, 2018). This shows the importance of training security details to ensure safe and efficient distribution, not only for the safety of aid workers but civilians as well. Response and recovery are impacted by security concerns because humanitarian aid workers cannot enter the impacted area. In cases where humanitarian aid workers safety is at risk, it is required that the aid workers only travel outside their compounds a certain distance at certain times of the day and only stay at those locations for a certain amount of time (European Commission, 2018). A strict schedule like this prevents aid workers from accessing remote areas of people in need. It is also unlikely and unsafe for those people in need to travel from their remote locations to humanitarian posts. They could fall victim to violence, assault, among other atrocities. Delivering humanitarian aid to the areas that are deemed “safe” then disproportionally supplies those that are in convenience to the aid workers rather than all the people in need. Therefore their mission to relieve suffering is partially achieved. Security for humanitarian aid purposes in the event of a disaster or area of conflict is important. Security plays major roles in the protection of the aid workers, protection of the civilians as well as protection of the goods. As much as security is a necessity, it requires a lot of money. Funding for humanitarian work is small compared to where it needs to be, adding security increases that funding need. It is a portion of aid that must be funded because the safety of workers and the delivery of aid need to be safe. Reference: Bedard, David. (June 2018). Qatar armed forces train in distribution of humanitarian good at Khaan quest 2018. Defense Visual Information Distribution Site. Retrieved from: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/282081/qatar-armed-forces-train-distribution-humanitarian-goodskhaan-quest-2018 European Commission. (August 2018). In the heart of Africa, the battle for humanity. Medium Corporation. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/protection-and-aid/in-the-heart-of-africa-the-battle-forhumanity-49b47f72402f Grant, Harriet. (October 2016). Attack on aid workers in South Sudan: ‘There was incredible naivety. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionalsnetwork/2016/oct/17/attack-on-aid-workers-in-south-sudan-there-was-incredible-naivety U.N. News. (February 2018). South Sudan. Amid security challenges, aid workers delivering ‘against the odds’. United Nation News. Retrieved from: https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/09/1020512

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