Purpose and scope of Ground Rules

• Humanitarian negotiators should be clear about the purpose and scope of any Ground Rules agreements to be agreed with an armed group

• Any Ground Rules framework agreement should be based on principles of humanitarian action recognized by the participating humanitarian organizations.

• Agreement on the humanitarian principles, operating guidelines and commitments of both parties (humanitarian agencies and the armed group(s)) that collectively constitute a Ground Rules agreement does not infer or accord legitimacy to the armed group.

• Based on existing guidance, humanitarian negotiators can draft an outline of the Ground Rules agreement (i.e. a template of the ground rules document for discussion with the armed group) prior to negotiations.

Negotiating Humanitarian Access

Access as precondition for humanitarian action

• Humanitarian negotiators should present the issue of access as a precondition for any humanitarian action in order to meet the humanitarian needs of a population, rather than access to a particular territory.

Working principles of access

• Humanitarian organizations should approach the negotiations with a set of working principles of humanitarian access agreed upon among the humanitarians—for example, sustainability of humanitarian access—to guide the dialogue on the details of the access arrangements (i.e. how access will function in practice).

• Humanitarian negotiators should make it clear to the armed group and to parties external to the negotiations, that the access negotiations do not confer recognition by the humanitarian organization of the armed group, its political or economic agenda, or its control/influence over a population or territory.

Initial steps in negotiating access

• The early stages of the negotiations could usefully focus on securing access for the purposes of conducting a baseline humanitarian needs assessment mission, as an initial step towards negotiations on humanitarian access more broadly.

(Negotiations manual Section 5.4)

• Access negotiations should include consideration of: (i) logistics (how will access actually work: frequency of convoys, etc. ); (ii) liaison arrangements (… between humanitarian organizations and the armed group(s)); (iii) the need to communicate agreed access procedures within organizations.

Protection of Civilians in Accordance with International Law

Awareness of need for protection

• Humanitarian negotiators should raise awareness among members of the armed group on the need of civilians to be protected in armed conflicts.

• Protection of civilians in armed conflict per se is not negotiable
  Humanitarian negotiators should attempt to demonstrate (using a persuasive approach to negotiation) to the armed group that it is also in their interest to ensure the protection of civilians.

Generate options for enhanced protection

• Humanitarian negotiators should generate options for consideration that can lead to enhanced protection of civilians. In the case of recruitment of child soldiers, options could include registration/demobilization of child soldiers, education and training schemes for demobilized child soldiers, and/or agreement, arrangements for care of orphaned children in areas controlled by the armed group;

(Negotiations manual Section 5.5)

• Even though the armed group is not a party to the international human rights treaties, human rights themselves can provide a basis for discussion with armed groups on the type and scope of protections that need to be afforded to civilians.