ENDORSEMENTS
A public record of support for the Guidelines for the Rights and Protection of Local Staff in International Missions
Since their publication, the Guidelines have been endorsed and championed by several organisations and individuals committed to embedding durable protections for local staff into mission planning and practice. The testimonials below reflect why this work matters to the people and organisations standing behind it.
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
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
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
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
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
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