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20/07/2017

The challenges of bringing humanitarian aid to the first line (DIEEEO76-2017)

Delivering humanitarian aid to conflict zones is dangerous hence humanitarian UN Agencies and NGO´s must focus their analysis and strategy on safe access, rather than looking separately at aspects such as humanitarian principles, negotiation, protection of civilians, humanitarian civil-military coordination, context analysis, security or risk management. Given the importance of acceptance and perception for their security, they are to calibrate any potential consequences of any visible associations with other actors so as to avoid compromising their neutrality and, ultimately, their security.

Some humanitarian mechanisms that enable the safe access and presence in the frontlines are the so called Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination Cells that OCHA has established in contexts such as Mali, CAR, South Sudan, Yemen or Syria. These cells allow humanitarian actors, blue helmets and UNDSS security officers to share information that will let them achieve their respective objectives. They can also have a deconfliction role so as to avoid collateral damage of military operations.

Author:  María Fuentenebro

THIS DOCUMENT IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN SPANISH LANGUAGE.