Humanitarian Aid on the Move 4

Don’t shoot the ambulance!
Humanitarians are neither enemies to be killed, nor merchandise to be sold.
And yet, the recent attack against the house of United Nations’ staff in Kabul shows
that aid workers in general, and the UN in particular, are clearly considered to be parties
to the conflict. In Somalia, the war between the transition government and
opposition groups has resulted in a huge increase in the price of militias. Those who
do not have access to the spoils of piratry are looking for other sources of revenue.
As a result, the hostage industry has made venturing into the field extremely dangerous.
In Darfur, hostage taking is no doubt carried out more for political ends than for
financial gain, and the recent events in Chad and CAR have not yet been analysed
in sufficient detail.

Different approaches exist to these situations. The bunker approach, with armed
escorts, should be the last resort. Strategies are being developed to improve acceptance
of humanitarians by local people and parties to conflicts or to limit the attention
that the aid sector attracts. In certain contexts, it is now quite common for humanitarians
to use a “remote control” approach.
Unfortunately, violence continues to be aimed at those who have chosen to bring
assistance and protection to people in distress. It has become increasingly extreme
and remains utterly unacceptable. Certain victims come out at the other end broken
by the experience, others come out in body bags. We have friends among the victims
and our thoughts are with them, their families and their colleaguesWWe are left
full of anger, because it is a combination of political mistakes, ideological folly and a
predatory strategy which has cut access to people in distress, and this access is central
to the work we do.