LM International’s work to protect aid workers features on the conference website as it joins 67 organisations urging EU leaders to act.
FROM NIGER TO BRUSSELS | 14 OCTOBER, 2026
Humanitarian workers help communities survive conflict, disaster and displacement. They deliver food and clean water, support health services and protect people facing danger. Yet the people carrying out this work are increasingly exposed to violence themselves.
In 2025, at least 1,187 humanitarian workers were affected by major security incidents; 350 were killed. National staff accounted for 96 percent of those affected, according to the 2026 Aid Worker Security Report cited in a joint statement by VOICE and 67 humanitarian organisations and networks.
The figures are not only a measure of danger to aid workers. When staff are threatened, injured, detained or killed, assistance can be disrupted for the communities who depend on it.
That is the question at the heart of the call: who protects those who protect others?
Ahead of the International Conference on the Protection of Humanitarian Aid Workers, co-hosted by the European Commission and Ireland during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union, VOICE and 67 NGOs and networks signed Protecting Those Who Protect: A Joint NGO Statement for Humanitarian Workers’ Safety.
LM International is among the signatories. The statement urges EU institutions and Member States to take practical steps in two areas: strengthen accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and address the politicisation of humanitarian action; and create funding and partnership arrangements that support the safety of humanitarian workers.
That includes defending humanitarian principles, challenging harmful narratives that put aid workers at risk and ensuring that organisations have adequate resources for security management and their duty of care to staff. The statement also calls for funding arrangements that do not shift disproportionate risk onto local and national partners.
Its central message is direct: protecting humanitarian workers must be part of how humanitarian action is funded, organised and defended.
LM International’s initiative, 'Strengthening Duty of Care and Collective Security in Niger,' has been selected for the conference website, which features practical initiatives from humanitarian organisations.
In Niger, reduced dedicated security support across the humanitarian community has increased the importance of locally embedded capacity. With support from the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department, DG ECHO, LM International’s initiative provides field-level security staff and expertise to support daily threat analysis, informed operational decisions, coordination and information-sharing.
These measures help LM International protect its personnel while contributing to a better-informed and more coordinated security environment for humanitarian actors in Niger.
Preparedness also means having a clear response when a serious incident occurs. LM International’s Crisis Management Cell assigns responsibilities for crisis response, staff welfare and psychosocial support, family liaison, communications and logistics. Staff receive induction and security briefings, while medical evacuation and relocation arrangements support readiness. Incidents and near misses are reviewed so that mitigation measures can adapt as risks change.
Together, these measures connect physical safety with staff wellbeing and organisational preparedness. They also show how security capacity rooted in the field can help humanitarian teams continue their work responsibly in difficult environments.
No security system can remove every risk. But organisations can prepare, share information, support staff and respond more effectively when threats emerge. Donors and governments also shape what is possible through the funding and policies they provide.
The joint statement calls on EU leaders to move beyond expressions of concern: uphold international humanitarian law consistently, defend principled humanitarian action and fund the systems that help protect aid workers: including local and national staff who face a disproportionate share of attacks.
Humanitarian workers save lives, relieve suffering and defend human dignity every day. Their safety is an organisational responsibility and a condition for delivering assistance.
The cost of inaction is measured in lives. The EU and its Member States must act to protect those who protect millions.
Read the joint NGO statement and visit the International Conference on the Protection of Humanitarian Aid Workers website to learn more about LM International’s initiative in Niger.