Journal of International Peace Operations
Volume 6, Number 1 – July/August, 2010

An idyllic destination, with views of the ocean and a peacekeeping operation.

EVERY year thousands of employees within humanitarian and missionary organizations travel across the world to countries plagued by war, disease and natural disasters. In many of these often dangerous environments, risk is part of everyday life. Some risk is avoidable and some is not. Regardless, employers have both a humanitarian and a legal duty to protect their employees by reducing and mitigating this risk.

Over recent times, we have witnessed a number of high profile events around the world that have impacted the well-being of both leisure and humanitarian travelers. These have included earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and riots and civil disturbance in Greece, India, Jamaica and Thailand. Sadly though, this year is no different from any other. Over the previous decade we have seen terrorist attacks as far afield as Mumbai, New York, Madrid, Moscow and London, natural disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami and floods in New Orleans, and civil unrest in many more countries. There catastrophes represent only one facet of the dangers in traveling as they do not even take into account getting there in the first place; as incidents such as the Air France disaster in the Atlantic Ocean or the Afriqyah Airlines crash in Tripoli demonstrate.

The threat of civil litigation and obligations under occupational health and safety laws and regulations understandably concentrates the minds of every responsible employer regarding the safety and wellbeing of their staff from a legal and ethical perspective. In the case of work-related travel (and specifically in regards to humanitarian organizations that frequently send staff to less secure locations) this means the importance of ensuring there is a process in place to manage the welfare of employees, from pre-trip risk assessment to taking care which forms of transport and accommodation are taken and when.