Professor Paul McMaster:

We take the safety of our international and national staff immensely seriously. There is one incident - a major security incident - in our movement per week somewhere in the world, be it in the Democratic Republic of Congo or the Central African Republic. Incidents can be relatively minor such as the robbing of a car or the loss of equipment or very major. We take great steps to try to protect the safety of all our staff, particularly our national staff. The protection is provided by the people with whom we are working, the population around us. They understand what we are doing and warn us about certain areas that we should not enter or about where there has been a incident. They advise us. Our security and safety depend on the support of the populations with whom we work. Sadly, we sometimes pay a high price. We lost two of our international staff in Somalia last Christmas. I am sorry to report that we have not managed to secure the release of two women who were kidnapped in Somalia over one year ago. We brief very strongly our staff who go to the field, but we are very open with them about the fact that in some of our projects, although not all, there is a high level of risk. We have individuals in our organisation who examine the security situation very carefully. That obviously involves a political dimension. It is a great privilege to work with young people who are prepared to take risks. They believe they will sort out the world and will not settle for the mess I have left behind for them. They may be a little naive, but my task is to help to facilitate them.