Deployment guidelines for diplomats: Current policy and practice

Abstract

Background: Diplomatic organizations routinely send staff to high-threat postings (HTPs) and consequentially have moral and legal obligations to protect their health as far as is reasonably practicable. Aims: To carry out an international survey of diplomatic organizations that send personnel to HTPs to establish how they deal practically with their obligations to protect the mental health of their staff. Methods: An online anonymous survey about their organizations' policies relating to HTPs completed by international diplomatic organizations. Results: Fourteen of 30 organizations approached completed the questionnaire, with a response rate of 47%. Deployment length varied: no minimum (15%), a minimum of 2 years (39%) and a maximum of 2 (31%), 3 (15%) or 4 years (31%); one organization did not state any maximum. HTP and lowthreat postings had the same policies in 46% of organizations. Additional care and support (66%), additional preparation (50%), enhanced leave (33%) and additional physical and mental health assessments were informally adopted to address psychosocial risks of deployment to HTPs. Conclusions: There was little consensus on policies and practice for HTP deployment. We suggest that formal, consistently written guidelines, based on available quality evidence, and associated training and quality assurance should be formulated to make international practice more consistent and equitable.