Pre-deployment security training in humanitarian aid: a commentary.

Man-made threats such as crime and armed conflict as well as natural, health and safety hazards are repeatedly a concern for aid workers. While helping others who are in need of humanitarian assistance, aid workers sometimes risk their lives. Major events untowardly affecting aid workers are regularly reported in the media (Guidero 2020, 1). Yet, many less severe incidents or accidents often go unnoticed by the aid community as well as the public. To reduce security and safety risks, aid agencies have taken steps to advance their security risk management (SRM). From the authors’ perspective, the efforts made by the humanitarian aid community in relation to advancing SRM may surpass those by the for-profit sector, but contemporary approaches to SRM are not only commended but also challenged. For example, Neuman, Espada, and Read (2019, 1) are concerned that humanitarian SRM is being tackled as ‘an isolated and distinct issue’ and not addressed in conjunction with the broader facets of humanitarian assistance, including the underlying social relationships which develop from working in the field. Other concerns include international aid workers’ physical and emotional seclusion from the populations they serve and their sheltering in highly protected facilities (Duffield 2012, 478), and disparate security and safety measures (e.g. security training) between international and local/national aid workers (GISF 2020, 21). And while some question the concept of mainstream aid worker security training (e.g. Duffield 2012), others such as the United Nations view it positively (UNDSS 2018, 22). A prima facie look at humanitarian SRM suggests that most SRM activities, including security training, take place in the field while aid workers are already on assignment, and that the extent of and approach to especially predeployment security training (PDST) are unclear. PDST is training undertaken prior to the commencement of a humanitarian aid assignment to enhance aid workers’ security and safety skills and knowledge to maintain their wellbeing.