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Necessary Risks

Professional Humanitarianism and Violence against Aid Workers

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  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Abby Stoddard

    1. Humanitarian Outcomes, New York, USA

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  • 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

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Tracking the Toll: Measuring Violence Against Aid Workers

    • Abby Stoddard
    Pages 1-19

  3. Today’s Wars and the Challenge to Humanitarian Neutrality

    • Abby Stoddard
    Pages 21-44

  4. Contending with Non-state Forces

    • Abby Stoddard
    Pages 45-86

  5. When States Fail

    • Abby Stoddard
    Pages 87-112

  6. Organizational Impediments

    • Abby Stoddard
    Pages 113-134

  7. It’s Not About Us: Addressing the Security Dilemma with the Ethics of Professionalism

    • Abby Stoddard
    Pages 135-166

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 167-175
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Reviews

“In Necessary Risks, Abby Stoddard intertwines in-depth analysis on the phenomenon of aid worker violence with harrowing first-person stories of these unarmed professionals working at the frontlines of today’s complex wars. This book is essential reading for policymakers and anyone concerned with the protection of civilians in conflicts.” (Roméo A. Dallaire, Lieutenant-General (ret.), author of Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda)

“A deeply practical and very readable book. Stoddard explains why humanitarian aid workers are attacked and abducted, and how the whole aid system needs to change to reduce aid worker risk and increase effective coverage of people’s needs in armed conflict. An important text for every humanitarian who wants to do a better job.” (Hugo Slim, Head of Policy for the International Committee of the Red Cross, author of Humanitarian Ethics: A Guide to the Morality of Aid in War and Disaster)

“Abby Stoddard’s Necessary Risks offers two critical contributions to the theory and practice of humanitarianism. The first is the careful, evidence-based analysis of the growing risks to the security and safety of aid workers. The second is a consideration of how aid agencies have responded in ways that have decreased or increased the risks—and to whom.” (Michael Barnett, Professor of International Affairs and Political Science, George Washington University, USA, author of Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Humanitarian Outcomes, New York, USA

    Abby Stoddard

About the author

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.

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