{"id":6005,"date":"2015-04-20T06:09:10","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T04:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=6005"},"modified":"2015-04-20T06:09:10","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T04:09:10","slug":"the-impact-of-ieds-on-the-humanitarian-space-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2015\/04\/the-impact-of-ieds-on-the-humanitarian-space-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Impact of IEDs on the Humanitarian Space in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chathamhouse.org\/publication\/impact-ieds-humanitarian-space-afghanistan\">Chatham House<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150409IEDs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6007\" src=\"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150409IEDs.jpg\" alt=\"20150409IEDs\" width=\"800\" height=\"460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150409IEDs.jpg 800w, https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150409IEDs-300x172.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #1c3541;\">Experiences in Afghanistan highlight the fundamental challenge\u00a0IEDs pose\u00a0to the humanitarian sector, as the principles of neutrality and impartiality are eroded and humanitarian aid is increasingly militarized and politicized.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c3541;\">Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are an increasingly common feature of conflicts around the\u00a0world. Consequently, they pose a growing threat to humanitarian organizations operating in conflict\u00a0environments. While their impact on civilians and military operations is well documented, there has\u00a0been little research on their specific impact on humanitarian operations and on those who undertake\u00a0them. This paper considers the features of IEDs that distinguish them from other threats facing\u00a0humanitarians and how their use may indicate a more fundamental challenge to the humanitarian\u00a0sector: the erosion of the principles of neutrality and impartiality owing to the increasing\u00a0militarization and politicization of humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c3541;\">Using the specific example of their effects in Afghanistan, this paper assesses the risks IEDs pose and\u00a0highlights the negative impacts on humanitarian operations that measures used to mitigate this risk\u00a0can have.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"color: #1c3541;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">IEDs pose an unpredictable threat that is not confined to traditional battlefields and is difficult\u00a0to mitigate. This research considers both IED attacks where humanitarian organizations are\u00a0deliberately targeted and situations where they are inadvertently caught up in an attack. Since\u00a0IEDs often cause blast and fragmentation to be projected over a wide area, the risk of harm\u00a0beyond the immediate target is greater than with other forms of violence such as small arms\u00a0fire. This risk of being accidentally or indirectly affected means that IEDs create uncertainty for\u00a0humanitarian operations.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">\u2018Toughening the target\u2019 strategies, for example using armoured cars and building blast walls\u00a0in compounds, make NGOs more militarized in appearance, alter community perception and\u00a0can adversely affect the humanitarian operations of NGOs. This is particularly pertinent in\u00a0Afghanistan, where there is a legacy of military personnel engaging in humanitarian activities\u00a0and the boundaries of the humanitarian space have become blurred.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">Operating within the comfort zone of compounds and secure locations \u2013 so-called \u2018fortressing\u2019 \u2013\u00a0increases the separation from the local population and damages an organization\u2019s reputation.\u00a0Attempts to operate using remote management techniques risk shifting the danger onto local\u00a0staff and are impossible for activities such as advocacy. Armed guards, body armour and similar\u00a0measures can increase security against the danger of small arms but are less effective against\u00a0the force of an IED.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">The perceived threat of IEDs, magnified through intensive media coverage and their association\u00a0with terrorism, can compel organizations to react to these dangers more strongly than to others.\u00a0The level of insecurity and fear that the use of IEDs generates is such that programmes can be\u00a0closed or moved from areas with acute need. Strategically placed devices may deter delivery of\u00a0aid for many weeks or months. NGOs risk becoming a pawn of one party to a conflict.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">As well as the loss of staff and the impact this has on colleagues and the organization as a\u00a0whole, there are also costs in terms of community relations both locally and nationally within a\u00a0country; post-trauma care that NGOs need to provide to colleagues, even those seemingly not\u00a0directly affected; and the time and personnel required to manage the expectations of donors, for\u00a0example where programme outputs will not be met or key programme assets such as vehicles\u00a0need to be replaced.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Download Full Research Paper HERE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150409IEDs.pdf\">20150409IEDs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Experiences in Afghanistan highlight the fundamental challenge IEDs pose to the humanitarian sector, as the principles of neutrality and impartiality are eroded and humanitarian aid is increasingly militarized and politicized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,90,85,88,48],"tags":[586],"class_list":["post-6005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-editor-selection","category-human-rights","category-slider","category-war-and-peace","tag-ied","Documents-conventions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6008,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6005\/revisions\/6008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}