Failing to protect humanitarian workers: lessons from Britain and Voluntary Aid Detachments in the Second World War

Abstract

This paper draws on official records of international and British organizations, newspaper reports, and volunteer memoirs to study the failure to protect humanitarian workers in the Second World War. The Second World War saw a significant expansion in the use of air warfare and flying missiles and these technological advances posed a grave threat to civilians and humanitarian workers. In this context, the International Committee of the Red Cross advocated unsuccessfully to restrict air warfare and create safe hospital zones. The British Government grappled with the tension between military and humanitarian objectives in setting its bombardment policy. Ultimately, humanitarian principles were neglected in pursuit of strategic aims, which endangered civilians and left humanitarian workers particularly vulnerable. British Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses experienced more than six-fold greater fatality rates than civil defence workers and the general population. The lessons from failures to protect humanitarian workers in the face of evolutions in warfare remain profoundly relevant.

Keywords:

• Humanitarian
• security
• red cross
• Britain
• Second World War
• Voluntary Aid Detachments
• history of nursing

Acknowledgements

For their review and comments on this manuscript, thanks to Deborah Oxley, Professor of Social Science History, All Souls College, University of Oxford and Bruce Eshaya-Chauvin, Medical Adviser, Healthcare in Danger Project, International Committee of the Red Cross.