Safety and Security

The following is an excerpt from the Peace Corps Volunteer handbook designed for family and friends...

Civil Unrest

The potential exists for changing political situations in many of the countries the Peace Corps serves. Such civil unrest can vary from a dramatic coup to an orderly strike or demonstration. Likewise, the response of governments varies from the measured and restrained to the harsh and repressive. Naturally, when unrest occurs, Volunteers can be affected by it along with others. The Peace Corps, in coordination with the U.S. State Department, has instituted measures to manage a wide variety of crises. These measures begin with thoroughly training Volunteers on what to do in an emergency. The Peace Corps has also developed an emergency action plan for each country that includes a system for coordinating communications and a plan for full-scale evacuation in the event of unusual danger. Staff and Volunteers in each country test these emergency action plans regularly and revise them as experience or conditions warrant. For example, during the Gulf War and after September 11, 2001, the Peace Corps evacuated Volunteers from several countries, largely as a precaution. It has also evacuated Volunteers from countries because of civil unrest. A Volunteer’s special status as the only American in a community offers a certain degree of protection. Indeed, stories are common of local people going out of their way to look after a Volunteer, whom they consider one of their own. Civil unrest is most likely to occur in a country’s capital and Volunteers are generally posted outside the capital.

You can also read the press release about the volunteers who were recently evacuated from Ukraine.