No Relief: Surveying the Effects of Gun Violence on Humanitarian and Development Personnel

What is the impact of weapons availability and misuse
on the work of relief and development agencies?
Are attacks on workers on the rise, as is commonly
assumed? Where do the gravest dangers lie – from
political or criminal violence? Are these agencies
adequately preparing their international and national
staff to meet the security threats arising?
No Relief aims to answer these and many other
related questions, drawing on the results of the largest
victimisation survey ever undertaken of development
and humanitarian personnel, based on over 2,000
questionnaires, involving staff from 17 UN and
NGO agencies in 90 countries.
Its key findings include that one in five workers
face serious security incidents; that workers are cut
off from assisting large numbers people in need
because of armed threats and the misuse of guns,
that agencies are increasingly turning to private
security to protect staff and supplies and that the
biggest threat appears to be criminal violence, from
civilians armed with handguns.
No Relief makes a number of recommendations
that deserve close attention. They are targeted at
agencies and governments, for steps that can be
taken to address gun violence and to better regulate
the arms trade. This is particularly crucial in the lead
up to the 2006 UN Review Conference to evaluate
progress made on the UN Programme of Action on
small arms and next steps for global action.