Humanitarian Security Risk Management

The Good Practice Review on Operational Security Management in Violent Environments (‘GPR8’), first published in 2000, was seminal to the field of security risk management in humanitarian operations and has remained a staple in the guidance literature. This third edition, titled Humanitarian Security Risk Management, is the result of the combined efforts of a large number of practitioner-experts over the course of three years. Humanitarian Outcomes, the Global Interagency Security Forum (GISF) and the Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN) co-led the project to update the volume, with funding from the US Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA).

In addition to a shortened title, reflecting the reality that security risks can exist in all sorts of environments, this 2025 edition updates the content of earlier versions and introduces new topics, informed by the latest research and thinking in the sector. Notably, it introduces and applies the concept of a ‘person-centred approach’, which places the individual at the heart of security risk management. The new edition also emphasises the critical work and disproportionate risk burden of national and local humanitarian actors, and discusses security considerations within national–international partnerships. Additional new topics include the security dimensions of access and deconfliction efforts, as well as new digital risks in the form of mis-, dis-, and malinformation, data theft and surveillance.

This website provides a comprehensive overview of the GPR8’s content, with summaries of each chapter and curated external resources to help readers quickly grasp key content. For those seeking more detailed information on a specific subject, we recommend consulting the PDF version of the corresponding chapter, downloadable at the bottom of each chapter page. Please consult the PDF version of the book for more details on the publication and acknowledgements, downloadable via the link provided on this page. French and Spanish translations of the full book and individual chapter PDFs will be available in the coming months. This website is also in the process of being translated into French, Spanish and Arabic.