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Engaging Private Security Providers: A Guideline for Non-Governmental Organisations

Over the past decade humanitarian agencies have increasingly made use of Private Security Providers (PSPs) to support their security requirements. This briefing paper provides guidelines that offer an approach for assessing the viability of involvement of PSPs by NGOs. The…

US Muslim Charities and the War on Terror: A Decade in Review

The first part of this report (2011) by The Charity and Security Network (CSN) describes how, since 2001, the U.S. government has shut down some U.S. based charities as supporters of terrorism and closed others when its leaders were charged…

Can you get sued? Legal liability of international humanitarian aid organisations towards their staff

This SMI Policy paper was written by Edward Kemp and Maarten Merkelbach in 2011. It is the result of a SMI research project that looked at current practice in the aid sector and, in cooperation with A4ID, legal reviews provided…

Health Care in Danger – Making the Case

In 2008, the ICRC (the International Committee of the Red Cross) launched a study to look at how violence affects the delivery of health care in 16 countrie swhere it is operational. Reports of incidents were collected from a variety…

Russia’s North Caucasus: an arc of insecurity

This paper by CSS (2011) gives a brief history of relations between Russia and the North Caucasus, including tactics by the Russian government to combat secessionist and more recently terrorist threats. This includes an examination of Medvedev’s modernisation policy, stating…

From security management to risk management. Critical reflections on aid agency security management and the ISO risk management guidelines

The Haqqani Network in Kurram: The regional implications of a growing insurgency

This paper by Jeffrey Dressler ans Reza Jan (2011) details the expansion of the Haqqani Network in Pakistan’s tribal areas through peace accords signed between rival Sunni and Shia factions in Kurram Agency, Pakistan. The peace accords brought nearly four…

Open NGO Security Policy

Guideline provided by the Centre for Safety and Development (2011). This NGO Security Policy is for guidance only, for small NGOs without field offices or expats. It has to be tailored to the characteristics of your organisation, mandate and context.

The UK’s review of humanitarian aid: an agenda of radical change?

This two page document by the ODI (Overseas Development Institute, 2011) summarises the Humanitarian Emergency Response Review (HERR) commissioned by the UK government to look into how the UK should respond to rapid-onset humanitarian emergencies. It claims the HERR gives a very…

Security Guidelines

This Security Guidelines should be seen as an extension of any organisation’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in the Country Security Plan. Whereas the SOPs are obligatory, the Guidelines may not be. They act as a guide in various situations and…