1. Negotiating
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has just published a manual and guidelines for humanitarian workers on how to negotiate with armed groups. Chapters in the manual cover: Humanitarian Negotiations: Motivations and Partners; Framing the Negotiations; Working Towards More Effective Negotiations; Negotiating on Specific Issues; and So You're Negotiating . . . Now What?. Case studies are included.
The manual comes with a CD housing a number of additional references, such as a bibliography, Internet resources, reference documents relating to humanitarian principles, legal reference documents, and others. These resources are not available online.
For a print version with CD, contact:
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
United Nations
S-3600
New York, NY 10017
United States of America
Tel.: +1 212 963-1234
Fax: +1 212 963-1312
E-mail: ochany@un.org
Other related resources:
Humanitarian Negotiation: A Handbook for Securing Access, Assistance and Protection for Civilians in Armed Conflict was published in October 2004 by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Its target audience is "humanitarians negotiating access, assistance and protection with government authorities, military personnel, armed groups and civilians in countries enduring armed conflict."
The ODI paper, "Humanitarian engagement with non-state armed actors: The parameters of negotiated access" (June 2005), looks more analytically at the negotiation process, with the aim "to investigate the scope of successful engagement, one which maintains minimal operational preconditions, such as security for aid workers, and to explore the available modalities of engagement with ANSAs [armed non-state actors]."
And a shorter article - "Vive la différence? Humanitarian and political approaches to engaging armed groups" - was included in Accord's report entitled Choosing to engage: Armed groups and peace processes (2005).
2. Safety of Humanitarian Personnel
From ICRC, a new book with advice on how to stay safe when working in conflict areas: Staying Alive: Safety and Security Guidelines for Humanitarian Volunteers in Conflict Areas (Jan. 2006)
More information is available from ICRC on the protection of humanitarian workers.
Other related resources:
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel opened for signature on 16 January 2006. (Note: If this link does not work, the text can be retrieved by going to http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/r60.htm, and scrolling down to A/RES/60/42.) Read the UN press release about the purpose of the protocol.
Training courses and links to a number of other safety manuals are provided by the Centre for Safety and Development.
RedR offers another training course on personal security in emergencies.
Posted in Publications.