ABSTRACT
Over the past two to three decades there has been a significant growth in the number of international humanitarian relief organizations, in part as a response to a perceived rise in the number of complex humanitarian emergencies (those involving both natural and human-made disaster, including wars) (Macnair 1995; Eriksson 2001; Small 1996; McCall 1999; Terry, 2002). Aid channelled through international organizations is increasingly being relied upon as a significant part of the international response to complex humanitarian emergencies, having the effect of both positioning these organizations in a more politically charged operational environment and placing their workers in more precarious and demanding circumstances (Small 1996; Walkup 1997(2); Vaux 2001). This politicization of aid has seen an increase in the potential for aid workers to become either targets for, or witnesses to, violence, in addition to an increase in their exposure to the trauma experienced by others (Barron 1999; Eriksson 2001; Figley 1995; Smith 1996).
