• Humanitarian principles, policies and international law provide a framework and source of guidance for humanitarian negotiations with armed groups.

Core humanitarian principles

• Three core humanitarian principles of Humanity, Neutrality and Impartiality; Additional principles: Dignity; Respect for Culture and Custom; Do No/Less Harm; Independence; Sustainability; Participation; Accountability; Transparency; and Prevention.

Using principles to guide negotiations

(Negotiations manual Section 3.2)

• These principles guide humanitarian negotiations by: (1) providing a source of direction for humanitarian negotiators on how negotiations should be undertaken; (2) defining boundaries within which to seek agreement; and (3) providing a set of criteria for developing options for consideration by the negotiating parties.

IHL, IHRL and International Criminal Law

• Three bodies of international law—International Humanitarian Law (IHL), International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and International Criminal Law (especially The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court)—provide important framing elements for undertaking humanitarian negotiations.

Defining boundaries and framing obligations

(Negotiations manual Section 3.3)

• International law guides humanitarian negotiations by: (1) defining boundaries within which to seek agreement; (2) framing the legal obligations of armed groups; (3) identifying the substantive issues for negotiation; providing an entry point for discussion on these issues; (4) providing reference benchmarks for evaluation of options and monitoring implementation; and (5) providing incentives to armed groups to negotiate.

Operationalizing the humanitarian

• Humanitarian policies assist in translating and implementing humanitarian principles and legal provisions into an operational setting, generally focusing on a particular aspect of humanitarian action (e.g. guidelines on civil-military relations, IDPs).

(Negotiations manual Section 3.4)

• Humanitarian policies can guide humanitarian negotiations by broadening the range of options that parties to the negotiations can consider as a basis for agreement.