Existing International Humanitarian Law (IHL) treaties are predominantly focused on states, and, while they have obligations under IHL, ANSAs cannot become parties to relevant international treaties. Thus, ANSAs may not feel bound to respect rules that they have neither contributed to creating nor formally declared their willingness to adhere to. Thereby, creating a unique situation where interaction with ANSA is a must for humanitarian organizations to have access to and provide protection to civilians in such situations. Armed conflict in humanitarian crisis often involves one or several armed non-State actors (ANSA’s). Civilians are the primary victims of these conflicts. It is critical to engage in dialogue with all parties to the conflict, in order to gain access to and provide protection to the civilian population affected by these crises.
In this webinar we looked at the approaches to engage with non-state actors as well as results of such engagements in helping the civilian population affected by crisis. Our two panelists’ led us through their extensive experience working on this specific area.