Aid workers consult with community members in Pakistan

Tracking fatal attacks on aid workers has left me wondering who qualifies for the label of ‘humanitarian aid worker’. It seemed simple enough at first glance. Staff with organizations like OXFAM, Save the Children, World Vision, Mercy Corps and others are obvious choices. The same applies for the staff of numerous nationally based counterpart organizations.

I also include civilian UN staff on the list. I don’t include UN Peacekeepers. Its not that I’m not sympathetic to the challenges they face. I was a Peacekeeper myself for a brief while. Its just that their status and mandate differs from that of an aid worker.

Where the problem comes in is drawing the line between aid workers and what might be called ‘contracted support’. Are the drivers of companies contracted to deliver food for WFP ‘aid workers’? Does and attack on a convoy of WFP contracted vehicles equate to an attack on humanitarian aid workers? How about if the vehicles all clearly marked with the WFP logo?

If USAID contracts an advisor through a company like BearingPoint does that person become an aid worker? How about a gardener with a small aid organization? Security guards?