Source · Select Committees · International Development Committee
Recommendation 43
43
Accepted
Donors and employers bear moral responsibility for mitigating risks to aid workers.
Conclusion
Whilst it is always the perpetrator who is responsible for the harm caused to victims, there is more that donors and employers could do to mitigate the risks. Indeed, it is the moral responsibility of donors to do all they can to remove or mitigate the risks to aid workers. (Conclusion, Paragraph 85)
Government Response Summary
The government accepts its responsibility and plans to review existing programme guidelines and consider stand-alone guidance on mitigating risks to aid workers, including promoting direct partner contact. They will also continue efforts to support global Humanitarian Notification Systems.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We take our responsibilities as a humanitarian donor seriously and we recognise the importance of evolving our own risk management approaches to keep pace with evolving threats. We plan to review existing programme guidelines and consider stand- alone guidance on the specific issue of mitigating risks to aid workers. This may include recommendations for down-stream implementing partners to attend regular meetings with primary partners and FCDO programme teams to ensure information is conveyed first-hand and to ensure that specific issues can be addressed in an effective and timely manner. We welcome continued dialogue with partners on this important issue and will ensure their views and advice contribute to this process. The FCDO seeks to follow the principled approach to risk-sharing outlined in the IASC 2023 Risk Sharing Framework. The UK will also continue its efforts to support global Humanitarian Notification Systems (HNS), which are a critical tool to support deconfliction and help protect aid workers, when parties to conflict fully engage. The UK provides core funding to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) whose mandate includes the management of the HNS. At the UN Security Council in November 2024, the UK also called upon all member states to take all feasible steps to ensure effective and trusted deconfliction mechanisms are in place and utilised, in line with the obligations of parties to a conflict to protect humanitarian personnel. We reiterated this call at the Council in April 2025.