How many humanitarian workers have
walked empty-handed out of a government
office, emerged frustrated from a long
meeting with militia commanders, or reluctantly
turned away from a military checkpoint
wondering if they could have done better?
Many people in the UN agencies, the Red
Cross movement and NGOs spend a great
deal of time presenting the case for humanitarian
action. This is despite the fact that the
international norms on which humanitarian
action is based are, in principle, recognised
as absolute and so, in an important sense, as
non-negotiable.
Power enables parties to a conflict to violate
people’s rights, avoid their obligations or pick and
choose where and when they decide to meet
them. Humanitarians thus constantly need to
remind, affirm, encourage, convince, persuade
and pressurize all parties in an armed conflict to
agree to humanitarian action and ensure respect
for international law. This creates a difficult operational
paradox for humanitarian workers, as
they find themselves inevitably negotiating in
practice that which is non-negotiable in
principle. Such is a humanitarian’s typical operational
environment and his or her foremost dayto-day challenge.
Now, for the first time, there is a handbook on
field-based practice in humanitarian negotiations
which addresses the challenge of good
negotiation skills specifically for humanitarian
workers. Coordinated by Hugo Slim of the Centre
for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre) and
written by Deborah Mancini-Griffoli (of HD Centre)
and André Picot (of ICRC) in collaboration
with numerous academic and international partners,
the study analyzes the factors that prevent
and enable successful humanitarian negotiations
in particular settings that are typical of humanitarian
emergencies. It aims to establish common
understanding and good practice for future policy-making, operational planning and capacitybuilding
in humanitarian negotiations.
The manual is now being used widely in
staff training and negotiation planning by
ICRC, UNHCR, UNOCHA, USAID, DFID,
OXFAM GB and CARE International. In
December 2005, these agencies will meet
again at HD Centre in Geneva to review
progress to date in humanitarian negotiation
training and support. Financial support for
the research and publication of the handbook
was provided by the Geneva International
Academic Network (RUIG-GIAN). The handbook
is available from the Centre for Humanitarian
Dialogue (www.hdcentre.org).
The Geneva International Academic Network
(RUIG-GIAN) seeks to reinforce collaboration
among academic institutions and
international organisations in the service of
peace and justice. It supports action-oriented
research projects in the fields of sustainable
development; social equity; globalisation and
international commerce; intercultural relations
and dialogue; and humanitarian law and
human rights.
The deadline for submission of projects for
the next round of annual funding is set for
5 April 2006. The GIAN also proposes funding
of up to SFr 50,000 per project under its «Small Grants» programme. A full description
of the conditions and procedures for participation,
as well as information about former
programmes, can be found on the GIAN’s
web site: www.ruig-gian.org.
