PHAP Online Learning Series on Humanitarian Law and Policy – Impartiality: Practical dilemmas of principled action

Event description

This learning session will provide a more in-depth treatment of the principle of impartiality, focusing on practical dilemmas in its application.

Directly following this learning session, a discussion and consultation event in support of the World Humanitarian Summit will be organized in the same virtual room. We encourage participants to take part in both of these events.

Learning objectives

Understanding of the core humanitarian principle of impartiality, both in its definition and its implementation.
Knowledge of examples of the practical implications of impartiality in the course of humanitarian action.
Understanding of the nature of challenges and dilemmas involved in translating impartiality into operations.
Familiarity with the role that impartiality plays within the RCRC, as both a goal and as a tool

Recording (Adobe Connect - higher quality)

Please note that the Adobe Connect recording includes both the learning session and the subsequent discussion. The assessment code is provided after the learning session.

Recording (YouTube - faster loading time)

Prerequisite knowledge

Recommended sessions:

2. IHL and Core Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence

6. Advanced learning session on humanitarian principles

7. Humanity: Practical dilemmas of principled action

Assessment

PHAP members will have the possibility to undergo a two-part assessment after the session as part of the PHAP Continuous Learning Credits framework.

Part 1: Comprehension check

Part 2: Written reflection

To encourage peer learning among members, selected essay responses will also be published on the website, if approved by the writer. As a member, you can comment on the responses and read other members' comments.

Read the written reflections

Speaker

Jérémie Labbé works for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as the Head of Project for Principles Guiding Humanitarian Action. Prior to this, he worked for the International Peace Institute (IPI) in New York, where he developed a new program on humanitarian affairs. His work has focused on the adaptation of the international humanitarian system to a changing world, the relevance of humanitarian principles, protection of civilians and international humanitarian law, and the relation between humanitarian action and UN integration. Before joining IPI in 2010, he has spent several years with the ICRC, both in its headquarters in Geneva and in different field missions in India, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and Iraq.

Facilitator

Marc DuBois, currently an independent humanitarian consultant/researcher/blogger, was the Executive Director of MSF-UK from March 2008 until March 2014. He joined MSF in 1999, landing as a project coordinator in Khartoum, Sudan, where he managed a basic healthcare program. Following Sudan, Marc went to Angola as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer and then moved to Amsterdam, spending over six years in the Humanitarian Affairs Department of MSF-Holland, first as an advisor and later as head of department and researcher. Marc has a degree in philosophy from Yale University (BA 1981), an MA in development studies from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague (1988) and a degree in law from Columbia University in New York (JD 1994).