Challenges of Researchers in Conducting International Study during the Eruption of COVID-19: Student and Mentor Perspectives

Conducting an international research study may bear various challenges; however, during the global COVID-19 crisis, such a study undertakes unpredictable trajectories. This paper explores the challenges experienced by researchers studying Syrian refugees’ physical and mental health and aid workers serving under humanitarian organizations in Lebanon. It includes information about the changes in the study’s goals and design with the emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2, as necessitated by the circumstances COVID-19 imposed. It focuses on the unique perspectives of the research team of two students and their mentor who faced multiple challenges while involved in the study, and their narratives and subjective experiences that led to new opportunities for growth in the project. The research team specifically engaged in humanistic and existential psychology in order to conduct research in a manner conducive to personal and professional development, productivity and growth. To conclude, the researchers propose recommendations to the academic community on mitigating some of the challenges faced when conducting international research, and suggestions to the humanitarian sector serving vulnerable populations in conflict zones during COVID-19.

Sick Leave Characteristics Among Nurses of a Referral Hospital During COVID-19 Pandemic

Hospital-related infections have been widely reported during the Covid-19 outbreak that exposes healthcare professionals to at greater risk of infection. This cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate the frequency of absenteeism in hospital staff during the first and second months of the Covid-19 pandemic, from 26 February until 19 April 2020. Occupational data and sickness absenteeism characteristics were collected from the records of the nursing management department. 304 (17.8%) had sick leave due to coronavirus or corona-like symptoms. Nurses and then nursing aid workers constituted the categories with more frequency of sick leave. The more median days of sick leave were observed among supervisors and midwives. About 80% of participants had typical symptoms of Coronavirus. In conclusion, the median days of sick leave due to coronavirus were not as high as we thought. This could be due to human resource shortage and insufficient knowledge regarding return-to-work guidelines in the early phase of this pandemic.

Refugee Camp: A Tool for Dignity and Security

Migration is the main challenge of the 21st century. With 272 million people migrating in 2019, of whom 80 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide, their security and the security of those living in the destination countries or regions is a major concern. One of the decisive factors in protection and security is the planning and management of the camps where millions of refugees and internally displaced people are hosted, in several cases, for many years. Well planned and well-organized camps do not only provide assistance and ensure the dignity to those displaced, help the effective work of the aid workers, but can also contribute to reducing crime and gender-based violence, furthermore decrease security threats and concerns. This paper examines how migrant settlement options, especially camps can be a tool for upholding the dignity of those in the camp whether they are refugees, internally displaced persons or different kinds of migrants, but at the same time how they can provide the safety and security for both the hosted population and the hosting community. For this very reason, the purpose of a shelter, the advantages and disadvantages of camps, furthermore setting and planning of camps will be discussed.

The everyday emotional lives of aid workers: how humanitarian anxiety gets in the way of meaningful local participation

Participatory approaches to humanitarianism, peacebuilding, and international development promise to listen to the voices of local aid beneficiaries. However, aid workers often listen to these voices through reductive narratives of aid beneficiaries, ventriloquizing their voice and inhibiting meaningful participation. Why do aid workers – despite humane intentions – continue to rely on reductive narratives? This paper inquires how the everyday emotional lives of aid workers make reductive narratives persist. Based on 65 semi-structured interviews in Singapore, Jakarta, and Aceh, and 40 aid worker books and blogs, I show how aid workers regularly experience emotional anxieties that question their complicity in the suffering of others and their powerlessness to do anything about it. Reductive narratives resonate and persist because they allow aid workers to cope with these anxieties. I illustrate the emotional resonance of three reductive narratives – civilizing; romanticized; and impersonal narratives – in three common practices of local participation in aid work: professionalized standards; visiting the field; and hiring locals. Given the emotional origins of reductive narratives, rational critique is insufficient for reforming or decolonizing aid work. Rather, change must also involve engaging the underlying emotions of aid workers.

Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) & Relationship Building techniques for Frontline Humanitarian Aid Workers

Given the diverse nature of the conflicts around the world as well as the dynamic power relations putting more emphasis on the state and non-state actors, the activities and functionalities of the humanitarian organizations are prone to multiple challenges. A lack of the contextual understanding of the conflict at different levels of analyses, therefore, is fundamental to develop a structural understanding of the conflict and its geopolitical realities. The Front-line Humanitarian Aid workers need to develop diplomatic relationship with the native or the indigenous elements in the power amidst the conflict situation to communicate their mandate, and ensure cross-level humanitarian assistance. This communication and the relationship between the Interlocutors and the subjects need to be a two-way process where the information flow is smooth and transparent. Moreover, media tracking and monitoring via different digital avenues and the coding of information to create a valuable input can contribute to cope up with the posed challenges. These techniques in addition to the recommendations for the strength and optimization of the Network of the Interlocutors has been presented in the paper with the information based on empirical knowledge, primary, and secondary sources. The purpose is to provide the Front-line Humanitarian Aid workers in their humanitarian operations with new insights and relevant information to function properly. Moreover, the recommendations can also contribute to the efforts of the Humanitarian organizations to improve their acceptance and perception.

Policies and Practices that Link Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) and Protection from Sexual Exploitation (PSEA)

This report show that largely protection from sexual exploitation (PSEA) is incorporated into accountability for affected population (AAP) policy and practice. In 2014 the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) merged two task forces on these into one. IASC look at linkages between AAP and PSEA processes highlighting that: risks of SEA should be understood and mitigated within AAP; feedback and complaints processes can be used for both areas; information for communities should be provided so that they know what behaviour to expect from aid workers in all areas; affected people should feed into SEA survivor packages The general consensus across organisations is that SEA constitutes the most serious breach of AAP. The Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) Alliance published a PSEA index mapping CHS verification indicators with PSEA requirements. Documented experience of using this and other policies and tools were not identified within the scope of this report. More is needed in the humanitarian community to report practical experience in linking AAP and PSEA Agency documents on AAP include PSEA as core components. PSEA is suggested to be included in messaging at the onset of emergencies. Communities should be engaged with understanding their rights and how to act if their rights have been breached. Training is required for agencies to provide confidential, trusted and safe referral. Having a PSEA focal point is recommended.

Legal Analysis of the Exemption of Iranian Red Crescent Relief Workers from Compensation for Traffic Accident Injuries

INTRODUCTION: The main activities of the Red Crescent rescuers are to rescue and release the injured. Most of the actions of these forces in road accidents cause damage to the body and rights of injured persons and third parties. These damages, which are required to carry out the activities of the relief force, are allowed subject to the normal damage; however, they are responsible for the damages that result from their indulgence and misappropriation. The main question is "What are the legal principles of exemption of relief workers from civil liability and how is it possible to combine the protection of the rights of the victims toward their bodies, lives, and property with supporting the good intentions and actions of the aid workers and performing their legal duties? METHODS: This descriptive-analytical research describes the subjects or phenomena and their conditions and elements. Considering that to conduct research and explain the content, the provision of legal analysis is based on the analytical method, the method of data analysis is also based on the logical analysis. In this research, documents at traditional and digital libraries were used for data collection and note-taking was employed as the tool to gather data. FINDINGS: This study, through contrasting the two ideas of protecting aid workers and the rights of victims to physical integrity, aimed to destabilize the relief workers' exemption based on such principles as beneficence, rule of law, urgency, and benevolent intervention and determine the limits and conditions of such exemption to ensure that the guaranteed rights of the injured individuals are not violated on their bodies and property. CONCLUSION: It seems that the rule of law is the only basis that can always justify the relief workers' exemption from civil liability and other justifiable factors cannot always be compatible with the situation of relief workers. According to the rule, beneficence, the rule of law, benevolent intervention, and urgency can be considered factors in exempting relief workers. However, matching the situation of the rescuers with the justifiable factors shows that the main basis of the rescuers' exemption is the rule of law, which gives them the authority and duty to carry out rescue operations, and the necessary damages to rescue the injured is based on the rule of "permission in the object results in permission in its consequences".