International NGO Safety Organisation

INSO Statement on our activities in Burkina Faso and the ongoing detention of our staff.

INSO categorically reject the allegations made regarding our activities in Burkina Faso and remains committed to doing everything in our power to secure the safe release of all our colleagues.

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We categorically reject the allegations made regarding our activities in Burkina Faso and remain committed to doing everything in our power to secure the safe release of all our colleagues.

 

INSO is a respected and principled non-profit humanitarian organisation responsible for monitoring and reporting on safety trends in more than twenty countries globally.

 

INSO’s work supports those who seek to help others. In this, we collect, analyse and distribute information to humanitarian actors. This is done exclusively for the purpose of keeping humanitarians safe. The information we collect is not confidential and is largely already known to the public.

 

The Burkinabe authorities were, and remain, fully aware of our work and mandate. We have operated in Burkina Faso since 2019, following requests to support NGOs there, and we are registered with relevant ministries in accordance with local laws.

 

On 28 July, following a visit from Burkinabé Security Services to INSO’s office in Ouagadougou, our Country Director was taken from the office and detained by authorities. Since then, a further 4 national staff and 3 international staff have been detained including our Global Director of Programmes who had travelled, with all necessary permissions, to the country in the hope of meeting relevant authorities and resolving the situation.

 

Over the last three months we have fully cooperated with the Burkinabé authorities’ ongoing investigation, and we have sought on multiple occasions, to open direct dialogue with the Ministre de la Sécurité and have offered to address any concerns they may have regarding our activities.

 

The accusations made by the Ministre de la Sécurité are extremely concerning. Associating our work to strengthen humanitarian safety with intelligence work is not only false but will only serve to place aid workers at greater risk.

 

We will continue to work tirelessly to secure the safe and immediate release of our colleagues and are committed to addressing these false accusations and misunderstandings. In this we count on the continued support of all our humanitarian partners.

 

For media enquires please contact communications@ngosafety.org

 


 

What does INSO do?

 

INSO supports those who seek to help others, by providing alerts, reports and advice to registered humanitarian partners in addition to coordination meetings and trainings. The information INSO collects and shares, is solely for humanitarian purposes. The provision of this information helps keep aid workers safe by preventing their exposure to potential threats, such as active conflict or criminality and informing the planning and conduct of humanitarian activities.

 

INSO established an office in Burkina Faso in 2019, at the direct request of NGOs operating in the country. The primary user of INSO services are the employees of registered NGOs, 90% of whom are national staff. Prior to INSO’s suspension, 168 National and International NGOs in Burkina Faso – representing over 8,000 humanitarian staff, relied regularly on INSO’s services.

 

Everywhere INSO works, it seeks to do so in transparency with relevant authorities. In Burkina Faso, INSO is registered with DGCOOP of the Ministère de l’Economie et des Finances, and with Ministère de l’Administration Territoriale et de la Mobilité.

 


 

Why does INSO collect information?

 

INSO collects and shares information purely to support NGOs and other humanitarian actors to safely deliver assistance to those in need. This may include information related to the risk of armed clashes, recent attacks, risks of criminality etc. Such information is essential for instance to ensure NGOs avoid being caught in the potential crossfire and informs their own strategies to mitigate these risks and ensure planned humanitarian activities, such as distributions, can take place safely.

 


 

What information does INSO collect?

 

INSO collects information on conflict incidents and security incidents impacting humanitarian actors as well as information that may help NGOs to keep themselves safe e.g. information on roads and access to ensure NGOs can take adequate precautions and ensure they have the right documentation before travelling on certain routes. All such information aims at keeping aid workers safe, by preventing their exposure to potential threats, such as active conflict or criminality, and helping them manage their safety should they find themselves exposed to such threats.

 


 

What does INSO do with this information?

 

INSO uses this information to produce alerts, analysis and reports that it provides, free of charge, to registered humanitarian organisations. For example, based on information INSO collects, INSO may advise NGOs to avoid certain routes until the risk of armed clashes has decreased.

 


 

Who does INSO send this information to?

 

INSO shares information, alerts, analysis and reports with registered humanitarian partners, which include both international and national NGOs as well as a small number of UN agencies and humanitarian donors. All INSO partners must sign INSO’s code of conduct which ensures that information used exclusively for humanitarian purposes. All NGOs must be legally registered, or in the process of registering, as an NGO with the relevant authorities and must be constituted as a non-governmental organisation or a non-profit organisation. The primary user of INSO services are the employees of registered NGOs, 90% of whom are national.

 


 

Where is the information stored?

 

INSO makes all information it collects and verifies is stored in our Conflict and Humanitarian Data Centre which is available to all INSO’s registered humanitarian partners. Access to such timely and relevant data is recognised as essential to protect international, national and local personnel. Such information is also captured in several of INSO’s regular public reports e.g. our monthly NGO Incident Overview and our quarterly Security and Access Reviews.

 


 

What happens to this information after it’s been used?

 

Once shared, INSO’s partners use the information INSO provides to inform decisions that help keep aid workers safe. Some decisions may be immediate e.g. delay planned activities due to active conflict and some may be longer term e.g. changes to the way in which NGOs deliver assistance to mitigate risks. In this way information that INSO shares continues to inform NGO policies and practices long-after it has been shared. To this end, INSO also uses this information to conduct trend analyses that can identify emerging risks to NGOs and prevent incidents.

 


 

What is the objective of INSO’s information collection?

 

INSO collects and shares information exclusively for the purpose of keeping humanitarians safe. The information we collect is not confidential and is largely already known to the public. INSO helps collate and share this information to enable timely, effective and safe humanitarian response to those most in need.