3. Right of Humanitarian Independence

The well-established legal basis for humanitarian operations is complete independence from all parties to a conflict. The UN General Assembly has stated: “Humanitarian assistance must be provided in accordance with the principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality.”²² To ensure effective relief action, the ICRC calls upon States:

To recognize the need for the [Red Cross] Movement to maintain a clear separation between its humanitarian action, on the one hand, and actions of a political, military or economic nature carried out by governments, intergovernmental bodies and other agencies during humanitarian crises, on the other hand, bearing in mind the need for the Movement to maintain, in its humanitarian work, its independence, impartiality and neutrality.²³

Acknowledging that even a perception of bias endangers the safety of aid personnel and compromises their effectiveness, the ICRC rejects any direct involvement of military forces in relief operations, even armed escorts.²⁴ Indeed, the seminal principle of humanitarian relief is that:

Military operations should be clearly distinct from humanitarian activities. Particularly at the height of hostilities, military forces should not be directly involved in humanitarian action, as this would or could, in the minds of the authorities and the population, associate humanitarian organizations with political or military objectives that go beyond humanitarian concerns.²⁵

Yet parties to the conflict in Afghanistan have not permitted humanitarian agencies to carry out independent aid programs necessary to prevent civilian starvation. The US in particular has subsumed relief operations within its military campaign and failed to facilitate separate humanitarian action by UN and private agencies. This mixing of military and humanitarian motives undermines the neutrality of relief operations, with dangerous consequences in Afghanistan and elsewhere.