Ensuring the safety of not only JICA-associated workers but also all actors involved in international cooperation projects, such as employees of companies and members of NGOs, is a prerequisite for the implementation of development cooperation centered on ODA projects, and MOFA and JICA work on taking sufficient security measures and establishing safety measures on a regular basis. In 2023, the security situation deteriorated in Sudan, Niger, Israel, Palestine and other countries, and MOFA and JICA, placing the highest priority on human lives, strove to ensure the safety of those involved in international cooperation projects, including the swift evacuation of the relevant actors from those countries, while accurately assessing the situation and cooperating with international organizations.

Following the terrorist attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in July 2016, the Council on Safety Measures for International Cooperation Projects, in which the relevant ministries, agencies, government-related organizations, and experts participated, carried out its review and released the “Final Report.”Note 27 MOFA and JICA strive to implement the safety measuresNote 28 recommended in the report as well as to continue and enhance actions to ensure the effectiveness of safety measures for people involved in international cooperation projects. At the 2023 Council, which was made permanent after publication of the report, the relevant organizations and experts discussed circumstances, measures, efforts, and other matters related to the safety of those involved in international cooperation projects.

Furthermore, in the wake of the terrorist attack in Dhaka, the Small and Medium Enterprise Overseas Safety Measures NetworkNote 29 was established in 2016 to strengthen overseas safety measures for personnel associated with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including those involved in international cooperation projects. With participants from ministries and agencies involved in the overseas expansion of Japanese companies, the Network holds a director-general-level plenary meeting about once a year. Most recently, the 7th plenary meeting took place in November 2022, attended by then State Minister for Foreign Affairs Yamada. The meeting confirmed that organizations participating in the Network are actively engaged in awareness-raising activities and conduct proactive outreach to ensure that safety information reaches SMEs. The next meeting will be held in 2024.

1. Note 27: Safety Measures for International Cooperation Projects https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/page22_000141.html
2. Note 28: The following five points are proposed as new safety measures: (i) Strengthening the collection, analysis, and sharing of threat information, (ii) A code of conduct of project partners and NGOs, (iii) Physical and non-physical protective measures, and strengthening training and drills, (iv) Post-crisis response, and (v) Raising crisis management awareness and improving organizational structures of MOFA and JICA.
3. Note 29: Small and Medium Enterprise Overseas Safety Measures Network https://www.anzen.mofa.go.jp/anzen_info/network.html (in Japanese only)

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