Emmanuel Jacob

President | European Organisation of Military Associations
and Trade Unions (EUROMIL)

These Guidelines provide a coherent policy framework for addressing long-standing gaps in the protection of local staff in international missions. By clarifying responsibility, duty of care, and minimum standards across all phases of engagement, they support more consistent, accountable, and operationally sound decision-making. Their adoption would strengthen preparedness, reduce ad hoc responses in crises, and improve policy coherence across states and organisations.

BELGIUM

Betsy Fisher

U.S. immigration Attorney and Advocate, Lecturer
| University of Michigan Law School

As an immigration attorney, the support I can offer locally employed staff and other people facing security risks is necessarily reactive: visa programs and asylum claims are relevant only once a person is threatened or harmed. These Guidelines proactively prioritize protection of staff, from recruitment and continuing after contract termination. The Guidelines’ vital contribution is to address the structural failures that have left interpreters and other support staff at risk and to instruct governments and businesses how to ensure protection and rights of their local employees.

UNITED STATES

Nic Hailey

CMG | Former UK Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan

Local staff are central to the success of international missions: policies and practices relating to them must reflect that reality. These guidelines, drawing on wide consultation and expertise, should become a widely-used resource and a clear basis
for accountability and decision-making.

UNITED KINGDOM

Anne-Marie Snels

Former Chair, General Federation of Military and Civilian Personnel AFMP/FNV

It is in the interest of both Defense personnel, embassy staff and NGO’s to be able to rely on the functional support of local staff during international missions/operations, without their support our people can not do their work safely. However, this must be reciprocated; national governments must also guarantee the safety of local staff, binding agreements must be made for this purpose.

NETHERLANDS

Björn Blanck

Swedish Army veteran, six missions in Afghanistan

The local employees connected to the Swedish military mission in Afghanistan were considered colleagues to the soldiers and officers. The one most universal agreement in military code is, simply, not to leave behind comrades on the battlefield. If we have to potential to do this better next time we prepare an international
military effort then we should.

SWEDEN

Ed Aitken

Co-Founder | Sulha Alliance and VP of Corporate Affairs at DLocal

Supporting the Guidelines means ensuring that what Afghan interpreters and locally employed civilians experienced is never repeated, that sanctuary, recognition, and integration are planned from the outset, not fought for long after the mission is over.

UNITED KINGDOM

Andrew Sullivan

Executive Director | No One Left Behind 

No One Left Behind is honored to join as a Signatory to the Guidelines. Your mission speaks very deeply to us. Last year, No One Left Behind provided evacuation flights for over 3,300 Special Immigrant Visa recipients (all of whom were previously employed local national staff of the U.S. government). We were honored to help keep our promise to these local nationals, but we believe the U.S. government should have led this effort and needs to do far more, the Guidelines for the Rights and Protection of Local Staff in International Missions serves as a great north star for obligations to local national allies.

UNITED STATES

Chris Purdy

CEO | The Chamberlain Network

Veterans served alongside interpreters and local staff who carried the same risks in the field, often with far less protection when the mission ended. The Chamberlain Network has lived this reality directly, having seen veterans resettling Afghan partners over the years and watching those same veterans advocate for them at the local, state, and federal levels. These Guidelines turn that debt into a standard states and organizations can be held to. We stand with Local Staff International in building a future where no one who serves alongside American or allied forces is left behind when the mission concludes.

UNITED STATES

Cees Roels

Veteran Dutch diplomat, former Acting Ambassador, Kabul

During four decades with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs one lesson stayed constant: international missions simply cannot function without local staff. Our local colleagues understood the local dynamics, warned us when situations changed, opened doors that outsiders could never open themselves, and frequently carried significant personal risk because of their work with international partners. In complex environments, no satellite image, no intelligence report, can replace what a trusted local colleague knows by instinct, by network, and by lived experience. In an era shaped by geopolitical rivalry, hybrid warfare, and declining confidence in international institutions, that human terrain knowledge is more valuable than ever. […] The way nations treat their local partners has long-term consequences. […] If we expect local communities to work with us in future crises and conflicts, we cannot continue treating local partners as temporary assets that disappear from view once a mission is over.

NETHERLANDS

Kim Staffieri

Co-Founder & Executive Director |
Association of Wartime Allies (AWA)

The Association of Wartime Allies (AWA) proudly endorses the Guidelines. These principles reflect lessons learned across decades of conflict, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, where local partners accepted extraordinary risks in service to shared missions. Since its founding in 2019, AWA has stood alongside thousands of Iraqi and Afghan wartime allies as they navigated the long path from service to safety, and has seen the consequences when protection is treated as an afterthought rather than part of mission planning. The true measure of a commitment to local staff is whether it endures after the headlines fade and the conflict is declared over. These Guidelines recognize local staff as partners whose safety, dignity, and future must be considered before a mission begins, throughout their service, and long after it ends. AWA is honored to stand with Local Staff International and fellow signatories in supporting a framework built on preparation, accountability, and trust.

UNITED STATES

Jan Gras

Retired Advocate General and State Public Prosecutor

I fully support the Guidelines for the Protection and Rights of Local Staff in International Missions. We should already have had these in place during the EUPOL Afghanistan en EUPOLCOPPS Palestina missions that I was involved in.

NETHERLANDS

Johnny Mercer

Former Minister of Veterans’ Affairs

Some of our allies consciously chose to stand with us and our values over their own countrymen. For us to leave them is a shocking betrayal, and it keeps happening. I therefore endorse Local Staff International’s Guidelines for the Rights and Protection of Local Staff in International Missions wholeheartedly.

UNITED KINGDOM

Veteran Coalition International

Veteran Coalition International (VCI) supports the important work that Local Staff International has done in developing and publishing Guidelines for the Rights and Protection of Local staff in International Missions.

Just as VCI works for improvement of the support provided to those who have served, we recognize the effort to support and protect locally engaged staffs supporting international missions.

UNITED STATES

ShawnVanDiver

President and Founder, #AfghanEvac

Afghanistan showed the world what happens when a mission ends without a plan for the people who made it possible. Too many local staff who stood beside coalition forces were left to find their own way to safety, and many are still waiting.

LSI’s Guidelines for the Rights and Protection of Local Staff in International Missions are the first comprehensive global standard designed to prevent that failure from happening again. Protection for local staff must be planned before the crisis, not improvised after it.

AfghanEvac is proud to stand with LSI through the Global Alliance. If governments and institutions ask people to serve beside them, they inherit an obligation to stand beside those people when they are at risk. Every country that relies on local staff should adopt these Guidelines.

UNITED STATES

Hassan Soroosh

Ambassador of Afghanistan to Canada

Afghanistan’s painful experience following August 2021 exposed the profound vulnerabilities faced by local staff of international missions and underscored the critical importance of early preparedness, timely action, and sustained protection mechanisms. It also demonstrated how delays, uncertainty, and suspensions in resettlement programs can have devastating consequences for at-risk individuals and their families, leaving many in prolonged situations of insecurity, hardship, and uncertainty.

In this context, LSI’s Guidelines for the Rights and Protection of Local Staff in International Missions, developed through a comprehensive and forward-looking approach, provide an important framework for safeguarding the rights, safety, and well-being of local staff at every stage of their engagement, including after the conclusion of their service. I sincerely hope these guidelines will gain broader international recognition and support, including within the United Nations system, and help advance stronger international standards, greater institutional responsibility, and more effective protection mechanisms for local staff worldwide.

I wish to express my deep appreciation to LSI and all those who continue to recognize local staff of international missions not merely as employees, but as trusted friends, partners, and allies; who value their invaluable contributions; and who remain committed to safeguarding their safety, dignity, and well-being.

CANADA

German Armed Forces Association

From the perspective of the German Armed Forces Association, it is crucial to consistently incorporate the lessons learned from past missions into future planning. International missions require a reliable framework—not only for the military personnel deployed, but also for the local people, who make a significant contribution to the success of these missions.

Uniform standards can help define responsibilities more clearly, build trust, and strengthen the credibility of international missions in the long term. Fair employment conditions, adequate protective measures, transparent procedures, and responsible follow-up care are expressions of this responsibility and, at the same time, important prerequisites for successful international missions.

Against this backdrop, the German Armed Forces Association welcomes the “Guidelines for the Rights & Protection of Local Staff in International Missions” developed by Local Staff International (LSI) in collaboration with the University of York. These guidelines represent an important step toward raising international awareness of the protection and rights of local employees and establishing common standards for their responsible treatment..

GERMANY

VBM, Union for Defence Personnel
AFMP General Federation of Military Personnel
Marver Marechaussee Association

The Guidelines for the Rights and Protection of Local Staff in International Missions provide clear principles and minimum standards for all phases of engagement. From recruitment and training during pre-mission engagement, through active service and crisis response, to aftercare and reintegration. […] Duty of care is not optional, it is a fundamental moral and professional responsibility. […] The Dutch military trade union movement stands firmly behind this position.

Linda Fitchett

International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC); Interpreters in Conflict Zones Group (ICZ)

The AIIC and its ICZ welcome the initiative taken to create Local Staff International and their Guidelines for the support and protection of local staff worldwide; This is very much in line with our own long-term work on behalf of interpreters in areas of conflict. The safety, rights and role of locally recruited personnel must be understood and protected by all those who employ their services.

BELGIUM

Maya Hess, Ph.D.

FOUNDER of Red T

Red T considers these guidelines an important step in protecting and empowering national and local interpreters and other civilian staff in conflict settings, strengthening their safety, rights, and essential role.

UNITED STATES