In an environment of increased exposure, deterioration in the rules of war and loss of perceived neutrality, the community of NGOs operating in complex emergencies is facing significantly increased risks to staff safety and security.
In recent years, concern for the security of aid personnel working in violent environments has grown rapidly.
Until recently I have thought of security in terms of guards, radios, grilled windows and doors, close coordination with other international NGOs and a strong organisational security policy. This was until I attended the InterAction/OFDA security training course in London in September of 1998.
In the course of the last 20 years the number of ICRC expatriate staff working in the field and the number of operations conducted by the organisation have increased tenfold; the number of locally hired staff has risen in about the same proportion. Moreover, the ICRC's modus operandi has also evolved. As ICRC delegates' activities take them closer to the fighting than before, their working conditions have become more hazardous.
The deployment of international observers can be an effective deterrent of human rights violations against displaced people and those working with them. This article discusses the role of organisations such as Peace Brigades International in providing international human rights protection.
It argues that IDPs do not constitute a homogenous group and that relief agencies need to improve their analysis of the composition of internally displaced constituencies in order to plan appropriate interventions which account for, and respect, the issue of difference.
This article explores the different labels under which refugees in Dar es Salaam may be categorised. It identifies and profiles different groups of urban refugee in Dar es Salaam and considers some common assumptions about urban refugees.
Development-induced displacement represents one of the major challenges to international organisations and NGOs working with displaced people today. This article critically examines Dr Michael Cernea’s eight-stage model of the processes involved, which lead to the impoverishment of those displaced.
In this Debate section, we publish four responses to Michael Barutciski’s article on ‘Tensions between the refugee concept and the IDP debate’ from issue 3 of Forced Migration Review.