Charities work to ensure volunteers' safety

With the lives of eight aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan currently under threat for allegedly promoting religion, what precautions can charities take, especially religious organisations, to protect their staff while working in areas of greatest need?

The aid workers were arrested a week ago after being accused of trying to spread Christianity, an offence punishable by death. Now diplomats from Germany, Austria and the US are involved in negotiations in a bid to free the eight, who all worked for German relief agency Shelter Now International.

Some religious charities choose to drop all connections with their faith when working overseas. Cafod, the Catholic agency for overseas development, works through local agencies on the ground.

Cafod spokesman Jed Naughton says: "We get money from Catholics in the UK, but we don't go overseas to evangelise, our beneficiaries wouldn't know projects were funded by a religious organisation."

Mr Naughton questions why UK non governmental organisations send staff overseas. "They are much more vulnerable than local people, they stand out a mile and have to run at the first sign of trouble, so the work can't continue anyway."

In contrast, the Salvation Army, which is both a church and a charity, is always up front about its Christianity. It works in 108 countries, including Pakistan and most of the Indian sub-continent.

Spokesman Major Bill Cochrane says: "We always seek to work within the culture of the country but religion is an implicit part of our work."

Strangely, Salvation Army staff have recently been accused of spying in Moscow. The city authorities are refusing to let the charity register as a religious organisation even though its headquarters for Russia has been based there since 1992. The charity is taking the matter to the European Court of Human Rights.

Although it says it does not try to hide its religious connections, the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) has an international section, which omits the C from its acronym.

Y Care International, as it is known, works throughout the world but maintains a Christian basis to its work. However, in some Moslem countries the charity employs only Moslems to carry out its work.

A spokesman said religion is only one of the difficulties the charity faces. Often workers are caught up in war zones where relief work is most needed.

Last year, the national secretary of the Rwanda YMCA was killed in the country's genocide. And workers in Palestine are under constant threat from attack by Israelis. In Columbia, where the charity helps street children, violence and car bombs are the most prevalent dangers.

Y Care International's UK-based staff are sent to the charity's overseas programmes. A spokesman for the charity said: "When they do go, they are covered by a high level of insurance against things like kidnapping."

John Ryder, special risk product leader at Royal & Sun Alliance, obviously endorses buying insurance. But he adds that charities should take other precautions, for example being met at the airport by a local representative and staying in a protected area.

He said: "Charities like any business should decide whether the risk outweighs the benefit."

Kidnap and ransom insurance is available, sometimes combined with access to intelligence agencies that can provide up to the minute information on the dangers of an area as well as 24-hour helplines and crisis management.

However, insurance seems to be a double-edged sword. Two charities we contacted didn't want to discuss whether their staff were insured against kidnapping in case it made them a target for ransom demands.

In any case, insurance does not seem to be an issue in the latest round of kidnapping in Afghanistan. If anything the charity workers are being used to achieve worldwide publicity.

Whether it is for money, publicity or religious reasons, charity workers face an increasing risk of kidnap. Four incidents have taken place this year in Chechnya, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. And the kidnap rate for British workers rose from 11 kidnaps in 1997 to 43 in 1999.

Mr Ryder says: "Charities cannot assume protection because of their status and religious charities face an even higher risk in war zones as they will inevitably be seen as siding with one faction. They can also be accused of being a front for bringing in subversive material."

Mr Naughton says charities should be strict about assessing the need for westerners to work overseas. "In some cases the reason may be pure but in many the risk is just too great.

"Local people are much more integrated, know what to look out for, can achieve more and melt into the background easily in times of trouble."