About Peace Corps, aidworker security, and self-serving mechanisms.

The family of a 24-year old Peace Corps volunteer from Atlanta, Kate Puzey, says agency personnel set her up to be murdered by revealing her role in the dismissal of an employee she accused of sexually abusing children at a school in the African country of Benin.(..)

As part of the report, Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross also talked to a half dozen female volunteers who said that after they were sexually assaulted the Peace Corps response was incompetent and insensitive.(..)

(Source article and followup article)

Watch also part 2 and part 3 of the video.

The video series, and the articles in ABC news, point at series of issues inside the Peace Corps. It starts off with the insufficient protection of Kate Puzey, a volunteer in Benin, whistleblowing on a local colleague she believed to be sexually involved with pupils he taught, and she suspected of raping some of her students. This lead to her murder.
But as usual, the problem is more general.

ABC dug deeper into the issue, and came up with a number of "1,000" ex-Peace Corps volunteers testifying to have been raped, and/or sexually abused. Few of them attested to have found an ear within the Peace Corps open to their complaints about feeling insecure, and received little or no support after being assaulted. On the contrary, apparently many were encouraged to "keep it quiet".

I have written many times about security of aidworkers here on The Road, an issue which lays sensitive for aidworkers and aid organisations alike.

While decennia ago, aid and development workers might have been safe pretty much anywhere in the world, this is no longer the case. Aid workers are more at risk today than ever before, punto. Be it because of terrorist attacks or plain crime, the push for humanitarians to be more at the frontline,... We can no longer work like we used to.

Some organisations have taken pro-active decisions to expand the security awareness amongst their staff, expanded security measures of personnel and premises, ensure the safety of whistle blowers, and in general become more sensitive to any issues in sensitive areas.
It seems others still work under the modus operandi of the sixties, where aidworkers were close to untouchable. Very often, these are development agencies, rather than aid organisations, and very often based on low key and lower funding projects in rural communities. And unfortunately also often working with volunteers, who can not base themselves on their personal experience and "sixth sense" for problems.

Having lived "in the field" for many years, I often worked in higher security environments, where movements were restricted, premises were barbed-wired, and where we had extensive security communications... Only to find next door, an NGO who pretty had much nothing of the kind, with employees or employees fresh from Europe or other "civilised parts of the world", with no clue.

When I look at the video and see the house Kate Puzey was living in, I can tell you that this would not be allowed in many front-line organisations, no matter how "safe" the community was. No fencing, no night guards, sleeping on the porch.. Ayyyy...

Part of the responsibility is with the individual aidworker, but for those organisations working with "freshman"-volunteers, like Peace Corps, the first step lays with the organisation itself to sensitive their employees. And to ensure they keep a close eye and ear to any signs of insecurity or complaints.

Worse then comes when incidents happen. Then kicks in the self-serving or self-protecting mechanism of "Oh God, we won't let anyone know about this". Bad press is a killer for a humanitarian organisation depending on donations or public funding. "Reputation protection" is a very deeply instilled tradition in the humanitarian world. Look at the ecological disaster at the scale of BP's oil well spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Did they go out of business? Did they do less business at all? Bah, no. If an aid organisation would have been receiving the amount of bad press BP had, they would have been out of business in the first month.

Thus, "covering up", is the message. And when you cover up, you can not tackle problems at the root, which is the only approach for "the sensitive issues" like abuse, security, misuse, theft, etc...

Maybe we should start an "AidLeaks", the Wikileaks equivalent to report abuse in the aid community, if that is what it takes to break open the cans of worms.

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Pakistan: I wished I was wrong - Part I

Remember, I predicted that despite all the humanitarian trumpet-ing that "Pakistan was the biggest humanitarian emergency ever seen", funding would not be forthcoming? Simply because the main donor countries would not step forward, and the world sentiment is not particularly filled with loved for anything happening in countries filled with mosques?

Guess what.

Of the 460 million USD humanitarian appeal, only 307 million is funded to date.

Oxfam cries foul. And so does the latest hired humanitarian employee, Ms Amos. Who also happens to be the new UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. According to her, in the past two weeks, only $20 million USD was received on the half a billion appeal. Twenty-million in two weeks. For a natural disaster? If that does not prove a point, nothing will.

As goes with natural disasters: if the money does not arrive one month after, forget about it. It is out of the news. Press, people, and donors have moved on.

The next time I will write about Pakistan, the post title will be "Pakistan: I wished I was wrong - Part II". It will to about my second prediction on Pakistan. The first killing of an aidworker since the crisis.

I wish I am proven wrong on this one.

I am telling you, to survive in the aid world, you really need a harness of cynism.


Picture courtesy REUTERS/Athar Hussain

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Pakistan floods: Wishing I was wrong

A few days ago, I -once more- climbed onto my soapbox and proclaimed my eternal wisdom on the Pakistan flood emergency as if the Holy Truth Was Installed Upon Me by The Powers Above. Hallelujah..!

For all those involved in the emergency, I honestly wished I was wrong. But unfortunately, I am watching it all unroll as I predicted.

I claimed funding for the Pakistan emergency would probably not be forthcoming due to a lack of interest from the West... and here is a clip from yesterday's papers:

The global aid response to the Pakistan floods has so far been much less generous than to other recent natural disasters — despite the soaring numbers of people affected (...)

Reasons include the relatively low death toll of 1,500, the slow onset of the flooding compared with more immediate and dramatic earthquakes or tsunamis, and a global "donor fatigue" — or at least a Pakistan fatigue. (Ed: I would only accept the last explanation)

Ten days after the Kashmir quake, donors gave or pledged $292 million, according to the aid group Oxfam. The Jan. 12 disaster in Haiti led to pledges nearing $1 billion within the first 10 days.
For Pakistan, the international community gave or pledged $150 million after the flooding began in earnest in late July (...) (Full)

A detailed updated status of the consolidated pledges to the Pakistan humanitarian appeal, you find here.


And on staff security, all warning lights are on:

The Pakistani Taliban has urged the government not to accept any foreign aid for victims of the worst flooding in the country's history.

Spokesman Azam Tariq told an Associated Press reporter Tuesday that the Taliban would themselves provide money if the government stopped accepting international help.

"Pakistan should reject this aid to maintain sovereignty and independence," Tariq said. (Full)

Last year, the Taliban issued a similar statement one week before aidworkers were bombed in their Peshawar hotel.


Edited picture based on original by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images, discovered via The Boston Globe's second "The Big Picture" series on the floods and The Horizon

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Staff security - about being a pain in the ass

Have been involved in most humanitarian emergencies since I started this job, back in 1994, with a break of the last four years when I took a sabbatical, and worked for three years in our headquarters.

For eight years, I lead an intervention team, which went into any humanitarian emergency operation way before anyone else was allowed in, as we had to install the technical infrastructure ensuring the safety of the other staff.

As a manager, I have always taken the responsibility for the safety and well-being of my staff seriously. No matter what the rules, procedures and regulations were, I have always put the mark higher for my own staff. I have publicly questioned existing rules where I found them lacking. I have opened many a can of worms where I felt "the system" was inadequate to deal with safety. I have taken difficult decisions which did not always make me popular. Sometimes amongst the staff involved, sometimes amongst management. Over the years, I earned the reputation of being a pain in the ass.

Let me get the record straight: I *am* a pain in the ass. I would not like to be my own supervisor, as I am very difficult to be managed. But I have always found pride in the fact that - taking away my un-orthodox ways of working - people deep down inside realize at one point or the other, that I was right.

Now that, once more, I am leading a team in an emergency operation, many past experiences come back to me. Including the feeling of "these people must think I am a pain in the ass". Particularly concerning staff safety.

All too many times, as managers, people think of staff safety in the context of the political situations. In context of cost to implement the security measure. In context of the operational impact, when implementing strict security rules. But in all of this complexity, some questions continuously come back to me:
Would Pero still be alive if I had spoken up more openly about the obvious insecurity in West-Timor? Would Magda still be alive if I had spoken up more openly about the obvious decreased security in Baghdad?

Since those days, I leave no stone unturned unless if I can say to myself "I did all I could".

That does not make me very popular. But I don't care. I have to live with my conscience. Staff safety and security is not a responsibility of "a system", but also for each individual manager. And they should take that responsibility personal.

Picture courtesy AnneMarie VanDenBerg

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Here's airport security for you

It reminds me of Islamabad airport. Back in 2001, I passed security and I saw a weird reflection of the screen on the glasses of the security officer.

I glanced over his back and sure enough, the guy was looking at a screen full of moving snow particles, with a rolling picture, just like a badly tuned TV screen. No view of the xray'd material, though.

And that was at the height of the worldwide airport security increase after 9/11.

Picture via Fail Blog

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Ending the year on a sad note: lost two more colleagues.

2007 was bad. 2008 was worse. 2009 topped them all. And the last week of the year was no exception to a very disturbing trend: the aid community lost two colleagues again. Ali Farah Amey was shot dead in Beledweyn (Somalia) and a 24 year national UN staff member was killed in a suicide bombing in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Aidworkers become part of a free-for-all turkey shoot. I can't put it more blunt than that.

In a post reminding everyone on the plight of his two colleagues taken hostage in Darfur, fellow blogger Paul Conneally states:

There is another aspect which niggles slightly and that is the deafening silence that generally meets the news of aid workers being killed or taken hostage. There is not only a relative silence from governments, media or the public but even from the humanitarian sector itself. Compare the death in Afghanistan of aid workers to that of soldiers who, by and large, are armed to the teeth and sent to Afghanistan to kill or be killed. I don't dispute military interventions - not my business - but it is quiet incredible that the media is so keen to eulogize the military as 'fallen heroes' and ignore those who risk (and give) their lives desperately trying to make a difference on the human level without resorting to state of the art munitions and military occupation.

But I want to make it even more black and white: We, the aid community are left clueless what to do with this increased risk we face. The only thing we seem to be doing is piling up those sandbags even higher. Buying more bomb-blast film, bullet-proof jackets and mine-resistant Kevlar layers for our vehicles. Measures which should be taken, but proven to be insufficient.

I will make a prediction for 2010: there will be no end to the killing of aidworkers. And unless the aid community drastically changes its approach toward the risks now inherent to aidwork, one year from now, we will be looking back at the year 2010 and say "This was a bad year....".

My suggestions to any aid organisation who is concerned about security for their staff:

1. Make it compulsive for all aid staff to follow a two-three days security awareness course. The course is to be re-done, as a refresher, every two years.
2. Everyone going into high risk area, should get a separate and customized security briefing.
3. Every agency and NGO should comply with the MOSS (Minimum Operational Security Standards), and ensure the MOSS guidelines are strictly adhered to. MOSS compliance is to be verified by an independent external team.
4. Security compliance should become part of the normal audit cycle. Complaints about security deficiencies should be handled with the same priority as theft, harassment or embezzlement.
   
5. Every agency and NGO should employ a "Dirty Harry" team, with one and only one task: to try and bypass the security systems in order to expose deficiencies.
6. And most importantly: as you can not reduce the thread, but can only decrease the risk to your staff members: reduce the amount of people we employ in security-risky areas. Resist donor pressure and the aidwork-inherent-testosterone-craze by wanting to rush into any emergency operation, without thinking "are we really needed there?".

Picture discovered via War and Peace

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Security amiss: Firecrackers on plane and pope attacked

Further to my post about how security all boils down to "the people who implement it", rather that to "the systems themselves":

The pope was attacked at the start of the midnight Christmas mass, and someone set off firecrackers aboard a US transatlantic plane..

Lunatics in both cases, I am sure. But what if the intent was more serious?

Update:
It seems the fire cracker guy was serious, and it was an attempt to blow up the plane. To make everyone feel comfortable: US officials confirmed he was on a terrorist watchlist.

Cartoon courtesy Bob Englehart/The Hartford Courant (via The Moderate Voice)

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Security... Much blabla, little boumboum.

Case #1:
Yesterday, Italian prime minister Berlusconi was hit by a guy hurling a statuette at him. He was taken away with blood all over his face. The hospital later confirmed he broke his nose and two teeth.

Berlusconi was amidst a crowd handing out autographs. Only last weekend tens of thousands marched in Rome to demand Berlusconi's resignation, accusing him of conflicts of interest and of tailoring laws to protect him from prosecution in cases involving his media, real estate and sports empire, and links to the mafia.


Case #2:
"EU leaders must show leadership!" shouted one while two others waved yellow flags reading "EU Save Copenhagen" and another started reading out a statement on the red carpet meant for the EU top officials: A bus load of Greenpeace activists stunned security officials at last Thursday's EU-summit in Brussels.

Eleven people dressed in suits, driving hired limousines, displaying look-alike security badges - displaying the Greenpeace logo and their real name -, were waved through at both a police and a private security firm's roadblock, before arriving at the red carpet amidst top politicians.

The reaction from the Belgian officials flabbergasted me: "If we would have thought anyone would be stupid enough to do this kind of dangerous stuff, then probably this would not have happened", said Christian De Coninck, the Brussels police spokesperson. "If people use heavy material like faked police cars, and ditto badges, than of course anyone can get in". He stressed the police had not made a single mistake and "there are no holes in the security system at the EU summit."

Securitas, the private security firm which staffed the last road block before entering the red carpet zone, stated: "It is our duty to check all delegate cars. For security reasons, none of these cars should stand still, so we can only do a superficial check." According to Paul Schoolmeesters, spokesman from Securitas, "we only did what the client asked of us".

My case:
Having worked for years in security constrained humanitarian operations, the comments in the last case have me rolling over in (cynical) laughter.

Both cases prove three things:

1. If anyone wants to 'hit' anything or anyone, they can do so. Easily. It only takes some guts, creativity and very few means.
   
2. Any security system has flows, flows which we don't see because we don't want to see them.
   
3. Any security system is only as strong as the weakest link. The weakest links are often the people who implement the security checks.

These instances made me think of the security apparatus in the humanitarian world, where a man dressed up in a police uniform walked into our Islamabad office and blew himself up killing five staff and where gunmen shot the guards at the entrance and blew up truck wih 500kgs of explosives destroying a hotel full of aidworkers, etc....

No matter how good we think our security system are, there are always flaws. For as far as I know, no humanitarian organisation employs a "dirty Bob": a person with the sole task to try and break existing security systems, exposing their weaknesses. The results would be astonishing.

Pictures courtesy BBC and De Redactie

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Security these days

From The Morning Tribune May 9, 1903.
Courtesy The Tribune News.

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Attack us where we work, attack us where we sleep.

After the devastating suicide bomb in our office in Islamabad three weeks ago, I knew it was going to be bad day when the first Twitter message I saw this morning was: "UN guesthouse in Kabul attacked, 5 staff dead".

From the NY Times:

The guests were still sleeping when the gunmen, dressed in police uniforms, arrived early Wednesday. In the dark, they shot the guards, scaled the front gate of the guest house and began firing grenades, the beginning of a terrifying two-hour siege that showed just how little it takes for the Taliban to trap foreigners in central Kabul.

By the end of the siege, at least five United Nations employees, two Afghan security officials and the brother-in-law of a prominent Afghan politician were dead, as were their three attackers. (Full)

2008 was a record year in terms of casualties amongst aid workers. 2009 promises to be even worse. I keep track of most of these attacks on The Road Daily.

It is only weeks ago I wrote:

It is strange.. It is only after the hours go by that the cruelty and the reality of the act today really seeps through... And the consciousness that if we are to work in a higher risk environment, there actually is not one place, where one is totally safe. Where would that be? In the office? They drive a truck through the gates and blow it up. In the guesthouse or the hotel? Same thing...(Full)

This is the dilemma we, aidworkers, face today: We are nowhere safe anymore. Terrorism, banditry, sheer violence. And we can not isolate ourselves from the communities we are suppose to serve. We can not lock ourselves up in fortresses, as the US did with their embassies worldwide after the bombings in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. We need to be "there", we need to be where the aid is required. We need to do the assessments, we need to monitor to ensure the aid goes where it is supposed to go. But slowly, the violence makes it impossible to do our work properly. And who suffers? Those in need. As always.

Picture courtesy Altaf Qadri/Associated Press

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A deadly bomb blast in my office

It is difficult to imagine what people go through when a suicide bomb determines who is to live and who is not. Here is the story from Rehmat Yazdani, one of our colleagues, who survived yesterday's bombing of the UN WFP office in Islamabad, Pakistan.

I am shaken and traumatized after the yesterday’s blast which took place inside my office building only a few paces away from my glass-cabin. The blast was so sudden and strong that it took me some time to register what actually had happened there with all of us. It was so strong that I was thrown from my chair to a few feet away on the floor.


Everything was shattered into pieces only in a matter of seconds. When I tried getting up from the floor, I had broken wooden pieces in my hair, my head and body were aching badly as something had hit me severely. I was not in my senses and my whole body was shaking badly, the sound of the deadly blast was resonating in my ears and I was so shocked that I could not move a step. There were injured colleagues lying on the floor. My room was on fire and pieces of paper, broken pieces of doors, broken pieces of my glass cabin, windows and tables were lying here and there. I was looking at my injured colleagues in a state of shock and horror. “Vacate the building immediately”, I heard one of my colleagues saying. But I could not move till the time one of my colleague dragged me outside the building. But that was not the end of it.


The real horror started when my colleagues started taking the dead and injured bodies outside the building. Yes, bodies drenched in blood of people I worked and used to spent a major part of my day on regular basis… It was such a heartbreaking scene……We had tears in ours eyes. We were horrified and traumatized…


None of us in the office had ever imagined that this Bloody Monday will change our lives for ever and we will be left with haunted memories of the incident. I have not recovered from the shock yet, the whole scene is playing back again and again in my brain, even the sedative pills failed to calm down my nerves. None of my other colleagues are out of trauma yet. Those innocent souls who died in the blast would never be there in our office again and our office would never be the same place again….. I pray for all the departed souls (Gul, Farzana, Wahab, Abid Rehman and Udan) and I am going to miss them forever …


My mother says that it is a miracle that I have only minor injuries and I survived despite the fact that the bomb blasted only a few paces away from where I sit But I am thinking why this miracle did not happen in case of Gul, Farzana, Wahab, Abid Rehman and Udan. Why these innocent people lost their lives?? What will become of their families now?? What was their fault or What was our fault that all of us became victims of a bomb blast and are left with haunted memories ??

Read also this story by one of our colleagues, Dima, who remembers her friend, Farzana, she will not meet again.

Story republished courtesy MetBlogs. Picture courtesy Dawn

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We lost five colleagues in Islamabad today

Today, it is my birthday. But not much reason to celebrate. This morning, someone got into our office in Islamabad, Pakistan, and blew himself up.

He took the lives away from Botan, Farzana, Abid, GulRukh and Mohammad. Our colleagues and friends.

Botan Al-Hayawi (41) was Iraqi. He leaves behind a wife, two sons and a daughter. Botan was on mission in Peshawar when suicide bombers blew up the Pearl Continental Hotel in June. I met Botan several times back in 2002 and 2003 when I worked in Iraq.

Yesterday, Botan posted something on the Interagency ICT discussion forum:

I arrived to Islamabad last Monday morning with a busy day planned. I had just returned to Islamabad after recovering from the Peshawar blast on June 9th, 2009, which left me with some minor injuries but did not break my spirit.

He wrote this less than 24 hours before someone took his life away.

Farzana Barkat (22) was an office assistant. She worked in our logistics office, right next to where the suicide bomber blew himself up. A young woman at the start of her life.

Abid Rehman (41) was our senior finance assistant. He leaves a wife, two daughters and two sons. I worked with Abid when I was based in Islamabad from 2000 to 2002. We always exchanged friendly and teasing jokes as I stretched the finance unit with my urgent requests.

GulRukh Tahir (40) was our receptionist. She leaves behind a husband.

Mohammad Wahab (44) was our finance assistant. He leaves a wife, two daughters and two sons.

I am a bit numb at this moment. I think back of all the people I have known, and who lost their lives in the line of duty. Abby, Saskia, Pero, M.....

I think how it is possible to be close to those we want to serve, without having to isolate ourselves with barbed wire and sand bags. I think how we can still work in places we are still needed, but know we are at risk. Algeria, where our offices were bombed in 2007. Somalia, where we lost two colleagues earlier this year. Sudan, where we lost several drivers over the past years... Only to name a few.

It is strange.. It is only after the hours go by that the cruelty and the reality of the act today really seeps through... And the consciousness that if we are to work in a higher risk environment, there actually is not one place, where one is totally safe. Where would that be? In the office? They drive a truck through the gates and blow it up. In the guesthouse or the hotel? Same thing...
You can restrict the movements of staff and reduce field visits to minimize the risk, you can drive armoured cars - as we do in some operations - but then again, what holds them from blowing up an anti-tank mine underneath your vehicle as you stop in front of the traffic lights? What holds anyone from gunning you down when you get out of the car. Even when you think you are safe in the office compound.

Security for humanitarian workers has been more and more restrictive on what and how we can do our work. "Protecting ourselves" is a must. But how far does that conflict with being able to do our work, which entails having direct contact with those we serve? Should we all pack and go home?

I do not know the answers. I know one thing. This is not a happy birthday for me...

This song keeps on playing in my mind...

Picture courtesy The Nation

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Peshawar bombing hits the aid community

Last night, a suicide bomb attack on a luxury hotel in the north-west Pakistani city of Peshawar, has killed 15 people and injured at least 60.

Gunmen stormed the outer security barrier at the Pearl Continental Hotel before blowing up a vehicle containing 500kg of explosives.

Two aidworkers, a Serbian UNHCR staff and a UNICEF employee from the Philippines were killed and several others were injured. (Full)

This was the last in a long series of bombings in Pakistan, the second targeting a prominent hotel. Nine months ago, the Marriott hotel in Islamabad was virtually destroyed in a similar attack.
The Pearl Continental was obviously chosen as a target for maximum impact: due to the obvious security constraints in Peshawar, it was the only hotel approved for UN aid workers, by UN Department for Safety and Security (UNDSS).

Picture courtesy Mohammad Sajjad/Associated Press

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Picture of the day: Humanitarian space

Every Red Cross vehicle in the world is emblazoned with a logo of a Kalashnikov with a red line through it - No Guns on Board. The Red Cross symbol alone should - but alas is not - be the only protection aid workers need, as the Red Cross (or Crescent) symbol is enshrined in international law signifying that the bearer takes no part in hostilities. (Full)

More Pictures of the Day on The Road.

Picture courtesy Paul Conneally, a fellow aid worker and blogger

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Keeping track of sad statistics - aid worker fatalities

It might have gone unnoticed in a previous post, but this is important enough to reblog.

Kevin at Patronus Analytical specializes in tracking, improving and mitigating the security hazards aid organisations face.

Recently, he started tracking all security incidents reported in the press in one overview, and mapping them out (see the 2008 and the 2009 map of incidents).

This is the best overview anyone can get of security incidents involving aid workers.

Highly recommended and once again: a fine job, Kevin!

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Aidworker in Chad: When things get hot

It is not always easy to describe what it feels like, when working in a remote environment where all of a sudden "things" run out of control.

I found this blog entry from a DFID aidworker, on mission in Chad. The text in combination with the video,... brings back some memories:

The first time I visited Chad in February last year, I picked the wrong weekend. It was the weekend that the rebels reached N’djamena.

The day had started normally enough – breakfast of dry pastries in the terrace restaurant overlooking the river Chari which snakes past the hotel. But by midmorning, a rebel column of 300 vehicles was 30km from the capital, and closing fast, and we were planning our escape on a crackly line to London. Across the river? A quick rush to the US embassy? Or a dash to the nearby airport to wait for the last Air France flight. If it came.

The airport had been secured by the French, and as we plotted our next move, we had an excellent view of the French fighter jets coming and going.In the hotel, the fighting grew closer. French soldiers arrived. (..)

I had got onto chatting terms with the lady who swept the hotel corridors. She was unfazed, and with a very Gallic shrug-of-the-shoulders, she said ‘We are Chadians; we are used to it’.
In the end, we dashed for the airport. The street had been abuzz with pick-up trucks bristling with government troops brandishing rocket launchers, but was now eerily quiet, like a Sunday in suburban London. We caught the last flight out.

It proved to have been a good move, as our hotel, so close to the Presidential Palace, came in for its share of small arms fire. In the video clip [Ed: shot after they left], I was astonished to see French troops in position outside my room. The remaining guests were huddled in the dark in the kitchen, where the cook was continuing to make omelettes. (Full)

Video courtesy Stop Genocide Now

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The 2008 balance: 34 UN staff killed.

At least 34 United Nations staff lost their lives as a result of malicious acts in 2008. At least seven truck drivers working for the World Food Programme were killed in Sudan and Somalia. Ten peacekeepers were killed in Darfur. A suicide car bombing against a United Nations compound in northern Somalia killed two. (Full)

Kevin at Patronus Analytical, is a security specialist working for aid and development organisations. He does an excellent job in tracking all incidents in his blog.

He has just started the most complete overview of security incidents involving aid workers you can find anywhere, listing all incidents chronological. He also maps them out as well. Excellent job, Kevin!

Picture courtesy Martin Walsh (WFP)

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Gaza: UN aid headquarters shelled

The UNRWA headquarters in Gaza was shelled by Israeli forces today, injuring three employees and setting fire to warehouses of badly-needed aid.

This happened while UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Israel, who commented to be "outraged". The UN operations in Gaza were temporarily suspended.

The fire, which was still raging hours later, destroyed an estimated "tens of millions of dollars worth of aid," the UN spokesperson said.

The UN is trying to evacuate the 700 people who took refuge in the compound.

The UN claims an other phosphorous shell landed in the compound, near the fuel depot.
Under international law phosphorous bombs can not be used in the vicinity of civilians. (See earlier post)

Another humanitarian group, CARE International, said it too had been forced to suspend all deliveries of food and medical supplies due to heavy bombardment in and around its warehouses and distribution sites in Gaza City. (Full)

More posts on The Road about Gaza

Picture courtesy Mohammed Saber/European Pressphoto Agency

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Do you wear the right T-shirt to board a plane?

Mr Jarrar, a US resident, was waiting to board a flight at New York's JFK airport wearing a T-shirt that read "We Will Not Be Silent" in English and Arabic.

The airline, JetBlue, ordered him to remove his T-shirt saying other passengers felt uncomfortable with the Arabic slogan.

He eventually agreed to cover the shirt and boarded the plane, but he was made to sit at the back of the plane.

He went to court. The Transport Security Authority and JetBlue airlines agreed to settle the case, paying out a total of $240,000 in compensation.

This is not an isolated incident. Last week, a Muslim family was ordered off a domestic US flight operated by AirTran airlines after passengers claimed they were making suspicious remarks about security.

The family members were later cleared by the FBI, but were not permitted to fly with the airline to continue their journey. (Full)

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Are these the humanitarians of the future?

In the UPI article "Dogs of War: Bleeding heart contractors", the author asks:

"Where are the future markets for private security contractors? In recent years, thanks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, their clients have been primarily governments or contractors doing reconstruction work."

[Ed: that sentence already hit my stomach. "Thanks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan"?!?!?! Thanks to thousands of innocent people killed, --Hooray! Hooray!-- we created work for a couple of hundred (Western) private security contractors?!?!?! ]

He continues to observe (rightfully) that Blackwaters and Blackwater-wannabees start pitching at the humanitarian market:

"This would not be entirely new. Organizations like CARE and the World Food Program have extensively used armed escorts in transporting aid to needy populations. While armed escorts are normally provided by host governments, in cases where state authorities lack effective control, those organizations have hired private security companies to protect aid convoys."

[Ed: I am not aware of either hiring private security companies. But let's call that a slight oversight. But here comes the pitch:]

"Since PSC can't take direct action on behalf of the United Nations or individual states, they look to provide security for those doing humanitarian relief. And those providing such relief need it, as humanitarian workers have been increasingly targeted in recent years."

[Ed: Ok... so because aidworkers become more and more targetted, we will have all aid workers replaced by armed Blackwater PowerRangers... And while we are at it maybe also throw impartiality and neutrality overboard? ]

"Another reason, according to Spearin, why PSCs (Ed: Private Security Companies) might be used more by humanitarian NGOs is that they offer greater resilience when faced with violence. Many NGOs, when their personnel have been wounded or killed, have simply withdrawn from a country. That is not their fault. They are not combatants and should not be expected to fight like them."

[Ed: Ok... So here is your daily delivery of food aid, but hurry as I have a couple of RPGs to launch at 'insurgents' who object my presence.]

I will stop ranting here. Points to remember, though:
- Private Security Companies "have proven" to be "a viable alternative" for work too dirty for regular armed forces.
- Their work-ticket bubble in Afghanistan and Iraq will soon come to an end.
- Aid work becomes increasingly complex and dangerous
- Host governments and UN member states become more and more reluctant to provide the needed security or peace keeping forces.

And all of that might become quite an enabling environment for the Blackwaters of the world. Proof of the matter: Blackwater is now providing private security for commercial vessels off the coast of Somalia.

And as fellow blogger Michael notes: Blackwater, for its part, is ready and willing. According to their website:

"Our outreach programs support human development, health, education, nutrition, housing and disaster relief the world over. When crisis or disaster strikes, Blackwater is ready to reach out and help those in need."

Picture courtesy AP

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