East SOS Joined in Developing a Collective Position on the Protection of Humanitarian Workers on the Front Line

Our partners at Nonviolent Peaceforce have initiated an important advocacy step to advocate for humanitarian organizations in Ukraine to be allowed to obtain and use Frequency Analysers as part of their Duty of Care towards humanitarian workers.

In addition to the East SOS, the position was supported by humanitarian organizations, particularly those involved in civilian evacuations with first-hand experience in all frontline regions—Kherson, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Sumy—as well as international partners who directly support local teams on the ground.

Frequency Analyzers are passive early warning systems that enable real-time drone detection, allowing teams to make informed decisions: whether to halt or delay a humanitarian mission, alter a route, or seek cover. Nonviolent Peaceforce’s position referred to cases from evacuation missions where just a few seconds of warning determined the fate of both the rescue teams and the civilians they were saving.

East SOS team systematically advocates for the safety of humanitarian workers and the introduction of the so-called Duty of Care as a mandatory component of humanitarian projects through dialogue with donors, international partners and within the framework of humanitarian coordination. Our evacuation teams face the daily risk of being hit by shellings or targeted by drone attacks, while the demand for evacuation from frontline areas continues to grow. At the same time, humanitarian organizations lack armored vehicles, and the threats are becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable.

As part of our work within the Alliance of Ukrainian Civil Society Organisations, we also consistently support and strengthen advocacy for a minimum Duty of Care package for humanitarian personnel and volunteers.

First-hand accounts from frontline evacuations, field missions and humanitarian operations are crucial to this work, as they demonstrate the real consequences of decisions or the lack thereof.

East SOS participated in a thematic press conference in Kyiv on the Duty of Care for humanitarian workers.