This fifth edition of the Aid Worker Security Report provides the latest verified statistics on attacks against aid workers from the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD), and examines the particular security challenge of road travel. Although vehicular accidents are a common source of injury and death to aid workers, this report is not focused on road safety, but rather on issues of security (i.e., managing the threat of deliberate violence). Over a decade’s worth of data show that ambushes and IED attacks on the road have consistently outnumbered other forms of violence (such as raids on compounds or attacks on projects). Yet despite this marked vulnerability, little new thinking or investment has been devoted to innovating new and better road risk mitigation measures.
Part 1 of this report provides a trend analysis on aid worker security incidents worldwide, followed by an in-depth look at violence affecting humanitarian personnel and materials in transit. Part 2 discusses how different organisations have been addressing the issue and ways in which mobility constraints have affected aid programming. Part 3 suggests potential areas for exploration intended to jumpstart the dialogue on road security and encourage new strategies to better reduce aid workers’ vulnerability to these attacks.
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