1. Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
Humanitarian Negotiation with Armed Groups
Dr. Paul Forage
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

2. IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
What is Negotiation?
Negotiation is a process of communication and relationship building undertaken with the objective of arriving at an agreed outcome.
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

3. Why Humanitarian Negotiation?
The Humanitarian Operating Environment Today
Conflicts mostly take place within States
Engagement of military forces in relief operations
Integrated UN peace operations
Targeting of humanitarian workers
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

4. Why Humanitarian Negotiation?
The Humanitarian Operating Environment Today
Emerging competition among humanitarian and military actors is evident in the comment that “[t]he military is dismissive of NGOs and delving ever deeper into humanitarian programming.”
Meanwhile, the relationship with government - an important source of funding for non-governmental organizations - presents its own problems:
“The U.S. Government is obsessed with owning the NGOs through rhetoric (force multipliers), actions (contracts vs. grants), and sanctions (prohibiting even emergency humanitarian assistance through OFAC licensing).”
Guttieri 2005
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

5. Humanitarian Purpose of Negotiation
Negotiations undertaken by civilians engaged in managing, coordinating and providing humanitarian assistance and protection to vulnerable populations for the purposes of:
Ensuring the provision of protection and assistance to vulnerable groups
Preserving humanitarian space
Promoting respect for international law
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

6. IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
Humanitarian Space
“A conducive humanitarian operating environment” (UN OCHA)
“Scope for neutral and impartial humanitarian action in the midst of conflict” (ICRC)
“A space designed to protect the human rights of those in danger” “safe areas” (Hikaru Yamashita 2004)
Key Concept
Humanitarian space is a negotiated area designated for humanitarian action among potential stakeholders
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

7. Humanitarian Negotiations
The stakes are high - life and death for vulnerable populations
De facto power imbalance between the stakeholders
Motivations, objectives, operational cultures differ sharply
Commitment to outcome of negotiation may be difficult
Acute time and communication constraints on negotiation
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

8. IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
The Stakes are High
Attack fatalities between resulted from ambush (127) and murder (72).
Car/truck bombing (26), landmines (25), anti-aircraft attack (24) and aerial bombardment (14) were also significant.
There were more than 70 violent deaths in 2003, doubling the number in 2002.
More than half of the victims are local (not expatriate) staff. Angola (58), Afghanistan (36) and Iraq (32) led the list of the highest number of aid workers killed from
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

9. IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
Strategic Objectives
The process of negotiation can build trust and confidence
Negotiations can have a multiplier effect
HN cannot be used to substitute for political negotiations
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

10. IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
Tactical Objectives
To secure humanitarian access to those in need
To seek agreement on ground rules for activities and behavior
To secure agreement on operational mechanisms
To agree on rules and behavior for protection of civilians
To safeguard humanitarian security
To secure release of detainees (aid workers)
To secure agreement on safe areas or safe periods
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

11. IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
Potential Pitfalls
Use of force against civilians as a bargaining tool
Targeting of armed group interlocutors
Use of negotiation status to enhance legitimacy
Playing off several humanitarian actors against each other
Attaching conditions that adversely affect civilians
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

12. Characteristics of Armed Groups
Have potential to deploy arms in pursuit of objectives
Have a group identity and act in pursuit of group objectives
May not be part of formal State military structures
May not be under command of State military
Are subject to a chain of command
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

13. Characteristics of Armed Groups
Motivations - reactionary, ideological, opportunistic
Structure - leadership, organization, autonomy
Principles of Action - religious, ideological
Interests - are there shared interests?
Constituency - popular mandate?
Needs - organizational, resource, identity
Ethno-Cultural dimensions and influences
Control of population and territory
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

14. Negotiation Preliminaries
Identify one or more lead negotiators
Humanitarian negotiations must remain distinct from political
Agree on process and intended outcomes
Affirmation of fundamental principles of humanitarian action
Humanity
Impartiality
Neutrality
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

15. Negotiation Preliminaries
Example of Principle Application
“Our organization cannot agree to distribute food only to camps under your control because, as you know, we provide assistance wherever there is a need”
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

16. Negotiation Preliminaries
Real World Example
“In order to gain greater access to populations agencies should explain their roles and mandates…. The Burundian Army (in 1999) accused the UN of feeding the rebels, while opposition forces accused the UN of being too close to the government….”
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

17. Negotiation Preliminaries
Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions
“Persons taking no active part in the hostilities…shall in all circumstances be treated humanely….”
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

18. Negotiation Preliminaries
Additional Protocol II of the Geneva Conventions
“…in cases not covered by the law in force, the human person remains under the protection of the principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience….”
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

19. Negotiation Preliminaries
Six Subject Areas of IHL
Principle of Distinction Weapons
Protected Persons Treatment of Civilians
Methods of Warfare Implementation
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

20. Negotiation Preliminaries
How Does IHL Help Humanitarian Negotiation?
Defines boundaries within to seek agreement
Frames legal obligations of armed groups
Identifies substantive issues for negotiation
Provides benchmarks
Provides incentives
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

21. Negotiation Preliminaries
Framing Legal Obligations
Legal basis for holding groups accountable
Awareness not threats
Tribunals do hold groups accountable
Provides entry points for discussion
Cultivation of a positive image
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

22. Three Phases of Negotiation
Preparation - Coordinate Approach, Decide on Strategy, Gather Information
Seeking Agreement - Process, Issues, Outcomes
Implementation - Define Criteria for Implementation
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

23. IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
Making Contact
Contact is best facilitated by intermediaries
Intermediaries can include:
Church representatives
Other Humanitarian organizations
Community leaders
Business persons
Intermediaries can be useful sources of information.
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

24. IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
Exercise ROE
Little or no physical contact
Always obey orders (esp. if armed)
Follow safety instructions
Do not argue - discuss
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance

25. IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
Questions?
IRCC Center for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance