5 Negotiating on Specific Issues

5.3 Negotiating Ground Rules for Humanitarian Action

The first of the three specific areas for humanitarian negotiation is the development of common operational guidelines for provision of humanitarian assistance and protection. These common guidelines have been adopted for specific complex emergencies, and have been codified in what are commonly referred to as Ground Rules documents. Ground Rules agreements generally fall into two categories, depending on the intended target audience for the guidelines (see Annex II for country-specific documents):

I. Ground Rules for multiple humanitarian organizations themselves, or for humanitarian organizations and host/third-party national governments. Examples of these types of agreements, include: United Nations Principles of Engagement for Emergency Humanitarian Assistance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1998); United Nations Operational Criteria for the Implementation of Humanitarian Assistance Programs in Angola (1999) and the previously proposed Memorandum of Understanding between the United Nations and the Russian Government (concerning the Republics of Chechyna, Dagestan and Ingushetia).

II. Ground Rules for humanitarian organizations and armed groups. An example of this type of agreement is that between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM) and Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS).

The first category of Ground Rules agreements frequently includes statement of core humanitarian principles and agreements between humanitarian actors. Some of these agreements have also identified the parameters for entering into negotiations with armed groups. In the past, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has prepared this kind of guidance on behalf of the IASC to assist UN Country Teams in defining common ground rules for UN activities in specific countries, and to facilitate negotiations with national and local authorities on acceptance of humanitarian principles.⁴²

The guidance provided in this manual can provide useful input for the sections of these ground rules documents dealing with humanitarian negotiations with armed groups.

It is the second category of Ground Rules — those negotiated and agreed between humanitarian organizations and armed groups — that is the focus of this section. Negotiating an agreed set of ground rules with an armed group(s) can provide the basis for subsequent agreement on a range of issues related to provision of humanitarian assistance and protection.

For negotiation of Ground Rules between humanitarian actors and armed groups, the following points should be kept in mind:

1. Humanitarian negotiators should be clear about the purpose and scope of any Ground Rules to be agreed with an armed group;
   
2. Any common Ground Rules should be based on principles agreed in advance by the participating humanitarian organizations;
   
3. Agreement on Ground Rules does not infer or accord legitimacy to the armed group;

4. Based on existing guidance (e.g. OCHA guidance mentioned above), humanitarian negotiators can draft an outline of the ground rules prior to negotiations (see below); Humanitarian agencies should take care, however, not to present a completed set of Ground Rules to the armed group as a fait accompli .

Previous agreements on ground rules agreed between humanitarian organizations and an armed group point to a number of elements that should be included in these types of agreements, which generally emerge as written agreements signed by two or more parties.

Elements of a ground rules agreement could include, for example:

Purpose and Scope: objective of the Ground Rules | listing of participants/signatories | scope (what do the agreed rules cover?) and duration (are the rules time limited?) | statement of mutual interests

Guiding Instruments: applicable elements of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), International Human Rights Law (IHRL) | statement of recognition for these elements of IHL, IHRL | obligations of parties to the agreement

Humanitarian Principles: statement and recognition of core humanitarian principles | statement of relevant humanitarian policies

Definition of Operational Principles: operating guidelines for issues to be covered by agreement, including some/all of: identification of humanitarian workers, vehicles and property; free passage of humanitarian workers; tolls, rents and taxes;

Implementation: criteria for evaluating and monitoring implementation | obligations of both parties to ensure implementation | the process of implementation

Dispute Resolution: stipulation of dispute resolution mechanisms

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⁴²See, for example: Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), Guidance for the Development of Common UN Ground Rules Based on Agreed Principles , paper prepared by OCHA for the XXXIVth meeting of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Working Group held in Geneva, 19 November 1998 (Geneva: IASC Secretariat, 1998).