Being serious about security

One thing I have learned after several years in the field is the need to maintain a sense of seriousness about security. While working in Afghanistan over a two year period there were a number of casualties amongst the internationals and I had the disturbing fortune to know six or them personally, some quite well, all were killed by the terrorists. There was also the kidnappings that seemed to be take place later in my tenure where a number of young people again whom I lived with or otherwise knew were taken and held for several weeks before they were safely released.

It is these events that have a significant impact on the delivery of programs and the psychological and physical well being of all those that that work in the same locations.

For instance, in 2003, while I was working with the UN in Kandahar, Ricardo Munguia, a water engineer with the Red Cross was captured by the Taliban and after a few hours of negotiations, was executed on the road to Uruzgan.

The effect this had on the rest of the 140 or so expat community was enormous. Ricardo was well liked by all and sundry and the outpouring of grief was vast. The outcome however was that many of the field based programs contracted, some even ceased to function and all the while over the next two years I would be back and forth to Kandahar, the development situation had all but stopped.

In the following years I was a constant badger to my staff on security matters and was constantly having to dress people down for losing sight of the inherent dangers posed to field workers. The downside is that an incident such as this can stop not just what you are doing but what everyone else is doing.

With Ricardo however, his death was he first international and one that was totally unexpected, perhaps that is why the follow on was so final. The road he had been traveling along when he was captured was a frequent passage for many in the community as it led to another province.

The shift in security measures from then on were raised several notches following that incident however it was also marred by a political fallout with the security seniors.

What came from the incident was a greater need not just to be the beneficiary of the security warnings, but for all members of the team to become a part of them, to follow established standards and procedures in security issues and yo understand the cultural and political issues that can lead to confrontation. Too often younger and less experienced staff in my team would flagrantly breach security protocols proclaiming it to being too invasive on their lives. It is too late when it happens to go back and revise your behavior. My final solution was to offer to sever their contracts if they could not comply.

If you have a radio communication system, understand how it works and use it as it was intended. Every individual in a team is responsible for the security of every other member in the team and it is incumbent of everyone to ensure that procedures and rules are followed.

Before you go the field, take an appropriate security course such as the RedR or to understand how you deal with issues such as gunfire, explosions, kidnappings, minefields etc as it is your life or your colleagues who are dependent on you knowing it.

If you don't want to follow standard security procedures, if you can't be serious about security my advice is don't go to the field, you are too much of a liability to yourself, your colleagues, your program and your organization.