• Washington DC

2018 Annual Meeting of the American International Law Society • April 4–7, 2018 • Washington, D.C.

Image credit: ICRC, Flickr, 2012, License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Session on “Humanitarian Access in Armed Conflict”

While primary responsibility for meeting the needs of the civilian population in times of armed conflict lies with the territorial State, millions of civilians around the world nevertheless depend on external emergency humanitarian relief to survive. Such relief is provided by a range of actors, acting on the basis of the core humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality, and independence. The physical environment within which these actors carry out their vital work is obviously a challenging one. Increasingly, the same can be said of the legal environment. This panel will explore the legal framework applicable to humanitarian relief operations in armed conflict, including international humanitarian law and counter-terrorism law, and identify the key legal issues that challenge the successful delivery of humanitarian relief in accordance with core humanitarian principles. In conversation with legal scholars and humanitarian relief actors, this panel will address the difficult issues around consent to relief operations (including who must consent and the circumstances under which consent is unlawfully withheld) and the “chilling effect” on relief operations arising out of territorial and donor state implementation of counter-terrorism law (including in respect of counter-terrorism procedural obligations and the interaction between “no support” obligations and the obligation to provide impartial humanitarian assistance without distinction).

Speakers:

  • Tracey Begley, International Committee of the Red Cross (moderator)

  • Michael Bothe, University of Frankfurt

  • Jeremy Konyndyk, Center for Global Development

  • Dustin Lewis, Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict

  • Nathalie Weizmann, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Proceedings

  • Michael Bothe, “Humanitarian Access,” 112 American Society of International Law Proceedings 266 (2018) [link]

  • Dustin A. Lewis, “Criminalization” of Humanitarian Action under Counterterrorism Frameworks: Key Elements and Concerns, 112 American Society of International Law Proceedings 268 (2018) [link]

Audio