Scenes of Kristalina Georgieva, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief, matching steps with Odia folk dancers welcoming her to New Delhi to attend the G20 Summit enthralled the world; but more importantly reinforced a crucial but often underrated aspect of the unique ability of women leaders to drive an advancement of consensus for businesses and governments alike; through an endemic understanding of how critical cultural assimilation is for the evolution of the world.
Unfortunately, organisations across the world continue to be affected by massive opportunity costs on account of an inept understanding of the criticality of instituting egalitarian principles, policies and procedures for allowing talent to be truly mobile bereft of gender biases.
As such a concerted global effort is crucial to ensure more and more women can travel the world freely with conviction on their complete safety, security, and wellbeing, to allow organisations to adequately optimise talent efficiencies without gender considerations.
The creation of inclusive cultures hinges on these frameworks that focus more on ‘implementation’ than ‘initiation’ since the latter is sadly often the culminating point of initiatives on women’s security.
Mapping The Risk To Risking The Map
One of the most crucial implementation strategies for driving the above narrative is the ability of organizations on ‘Mapping the Risk’ in conjunction with building capacities to allow for ‘Risking the Map’ in a safe and secure manner; with due considerations to gender specific threats but without prejudices impeding the ability of women to travel.
Ensuring global mobility risk management practices evolve to bring gender neutrality to the fore is perhaps the most critical step for organisations to ensure a principled approach to meeting their diversity and inclusion objectives.
When it comes to ‘Mapping the Risk’ – assessment of geo-political and regulatory variances impacting the safety of women is often an underrated aspect of threat monitoring. Regime changes often lead to abrupt amendments in the constitutional, regulatory, and legal frameworks pertaining to the rights of women; and this has a direct impact on the ability of organisations to navigate the complexities that so emerge – often negating advances into ensuring an egalitarian ability to ‘Risking the Map’.
Developed in consultation with International Air Transport Association members and the wider aviation community, the Safety Leadership Charter is aimed at strengthening organisational safety culture through commitment to eight key safety leadership guiding principles. It has been planned to support industry executives in evolving a positive safety culture within their organisations.
Broadcasting Essential Guidelines for Women Travelers During Crises
Crises often create conundrums of exceptional complexity with significant and specific repercussions on the safety of women, offsetting action-oriented empowerment agendas.Kidnapping incidents for example, present significant gender specific risks. Areas rife with militia’s that propagate gender specific manifestoes present similar challenges where women travelers face heightened risk.
As such special training on scenarios such as hostage situations and destination specific threats are critical to both foster a sense of security for women, as well as ensure organisations drive inclusive practices on safety and wellbeing; creating a level playing field and optimal utilisation of talent bereft of gender specific biases.
Navigating Cultural Context: Embracing Local Traditions
Culture is often a conclusive factor in determining the context of mitigation strategies that are destination specific. Localised context in understanding traditions and resultant trepidations; as well as culture and consequences of possible aberrations in adherence are critical to equip women travelers in ensuring their safety and wellbeing.
Consistent, circumstantial, incisive, and inclusive consultation from experts familiar with the local landscape and concurrent cultural mandates is imperative ammunition for ensuring empowerment of women travellers.
A conscious and concentrated effort to evolve from generic advisories to mission, mandate, culture and context specific risk assessments, trainings and contingency plans is key to propagate definitive destination specific understanding of local traditions; and enhance individual abilities to embrace and navigate.
While enhancing capacities of mapping the risk and risking the map to traverse an increasingly uncertain geo-political environment, ensuring essential guidelines to secure women travellers in crises are adequately instituted, as are abilities to navigate complex local cultural contexts, are exceptionally important agendas; an overarching implementation-anchored strategy to imbibe a culture of true inclusivity is crucial for organisations to optimise talent efficiencies without gender considerations.
The author is the Executive Vice President – Global Security Solutions at International SOS.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETTravelWorld.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETTravelWorld.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.
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In a significant development amid escalating diplomatic tensions between India and Canada, the Ministry of External Affairs in India has announced temporary suspension of visa services in Canada citing security reasons. However, travel between both the countries remain unrestricted as existing visa holders can continue to travel to India.
In a day full of multiple developments related to visa services, BLS International, the visa facilitator, which handles Indian visa services in Canada had issued a public notice about suspension of visa services until further notice. Later in the day, the same notice disappeared from the company’s website.
Sharing a clarification on the same, BLS International told ETTravelWorld that the website faced technical isues due to heavy traffic. “The BLS Canada visa website witnessed a technical glitch, due to which the message did not reflect for a brief period,” the company said. It also clarified that it does not provide Canadian visas and that it directly works with embassies.
BLS had notified ‘operational reason’ as the cause for the suspension from today until further notice.
This led to a confusion that the visa services will operate normally until the Indian government held a press conference to intimidate about the visa service suspension. In the press conference, Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that the government is closely monitoring the situation and will be reviewing the situation on a regular basis.
“Those in Canada who possess valid visas to India or those who have OCIs are free to travel to India. There is no issue with Indian students in Canada as they are Indian students and there are no Indian visa issues for them. We will review this situation on a regular basis,” Bagchi said.
Elaborating more on the reason of suspension, Bagchi cited safety and security of Indian diplomats as the key reason. “You are aware of the security threats being faced by our High Commission and Consulates in Canada. This has disrupted their normal functioning. Accordingly, our High Commission and Consulates are temporarily unable to process visa applications,” the MEA spokesperson said.
The message posted by the Indian visa application center in Canada read, “Important notice from the Indian Mission: Due to operational reasons, with effect from 21st September 2023, Indian visa services have been suspended until further notice.”
India and Canada are embroiled in a diplomatic row over the killing of a Khalistani separatist leader. The deteriorating diplomatic relations between Canada and India have raised concerns about the visa prospects for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, students, and workers who travel to Canada annually.
Canada is the second most popular destination for Indian students and immigrants, particularly from Punjab and Haryana, with over 700,000 students studying abroad last year.
These concerns emerged following the mutual expulsion of diplomats by Canada and India. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that individuals linked to the Indian government may have been involved in the murder of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.
On Wednesday, India had issued advisory for Indian nationals in Canada to exercise caution due to anti-India activities and hate crimes. It was apparently issued in response to the similar advisory issued by Canada however, the Canadian authorities said it was part of a pre-scheduled and routine maintenance and no new risk information has been added to the India TAA.
Amid heightened tensions with India, Canada is pulling some diplomats from India. With some diplomats having received threats on various social media platforms Global Affairs Canada is assessing its staff complement in India.
Additionally, Canada’s reported refusal to grant visas to Indian security personnel who had served in Jammu and Kashmir had also garnered attention in this context.
Triggering a tense diplomatic standoff earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that India had a role in the killing of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The advisory was updated after Trudeau said on Tuesday that Ottawa wants New Delhi to address the issue properly, according to CBC News. The Canadian PM added, however, that his country wasn’t trying to provoke India by any means.
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