ABSTRACT
Humanitarian workers in the fields of war and natural disasters live by an immutable rule: risk goes with the job. Out of concern for its staff members, the vast majority of whom are stationed in the field, WFP developed three innovative programs to help them minimize the dangers and potential harm. In 1998-a year in which 12 staff members died, seven of them by murder-WFP created a security task force to examine ways to better protect our people. Designed for all WFP employees, even headquarters staff who may never be sent to the field, it has GÇ£graduatedGÇ¥ nearly 6,000 staff members worldwide. The UN family can act in concert with humanitarian organizations, governments, and non-governmental organizations to forge a kind of global customary law recognizing and protecting aid workers. It is profoundly shameful that only four people have ever been tried for and convicted of their crimes against UN staff members.
