Attacks against humanitarian aid workers have received increasing attention in the media, particularly high-profile incidents such as those against the hospitals of Médecins Sans Frontières in Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. Concurrently, scholarly research has given rise to a number of articles, white papers, and books on humanitarian insecurity. Most of this work centres on external threats, neglecting the internal mechanisms that humanitarian organisations use to mitigate security situations. This paper builds on the existing literature by focusing on the decision-making processes of humanitarian organisations, drawing on data collected from 16 security managers or advisers. The findings reveal that several factors contribute to contextual uncertainty and complexity, including recipient perceptions, local government actions, the behaviour of other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the area, logistical issues, risk variance within a single location, and organisational mandate. Furthermore, the results indicate that NGOs utilise a combination of decision-making processes to determine how to manage security in high-risk environments.

中文翻译：

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人道主义（不）安全：复杂环境中的风险管理

针对人道主义援助人员的袭击越来越受到媒体的关注，特别是备受瞩目的事件，例如针对阿富汗、叙利亚和也门无国界医生医院的事件。同时，学术研究产生了许多关于人道主义不安全的文章、白皮书和书籍。这些工作大部分集中在外部威胁上，而忽略了人道主义组织用来缓解安全局势的内部机制。本文以现有文献为基础，重点关注人道主义组织的决策过程，利用从 16 位安全经理或顾问处收集的数据。研究结果表明，有几个因素导致了上下文的不确定性和复杂性，包括接受者的看法、当地政府的行动、该地区其他非政府组织 (NGO) 的行为、后勤问题、单一地点内的风险差异以及组织授权。此外，结果表明，非政府组织利用决策过程的组合来确定如何在高风险环境中管理安全。