PHAP member event highlights impact of counterterrorism policies on humanitarian action

On Sunday, 24 February, in Amman, Jordan, PHAP hosted a members’ event on the topic of counterterrorism policies and humanitarian engagement with non-state armed groups (NSAGs). Naz K. Modirzadeh, Senior Fellow at the HLS-Brookings Project on Law and Security, Harvard Law School, and a governing member of PHAP, provided a background presentation on the topic and presented several cases that illustrated the current and potential future consequences of regulations in the area. The more than 35 PHAP members and guests that attended the event also raised their own concerns about and examples of such consequences during the discussion session that followed.

The featured speaker and participants focused not only on the legal frameworks currently regulating humanitarian engagement with NSAGs, but also on the consequences that the evolving legal environment in the realm of counterterrorism has for the work of humanitarian agencies at the programmatic and operational levels. Such consequences span from restrictions imposed by donors regarding which NSAGs humanitarian actors can work with to the implications for funding and other relationships with implementing partners on the ground. The PHAP members and guests present at the event expressed their concern about the extent to which such regulations can seriously hamper effective and meaningful humanitarian action.

While most of the examples presented referred to US regulations and the effects on US-based actors, both the speaker and the audience confirmed that these issues were not limited to the US. Around the world, donors and political actors have been putting similar regulations in place.

The participants came from a wide range of organizations, which set the stage for a fruitful discussion based on their diverse experiences. Among the organizations informally represented were the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the EU Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), the UN Mission in the Republic South Sudan (UNMISS), Geneva Call, UNICEF, InterSos, and national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. All participants were, however, participating in their own individual capacities, not as formal representatives of any agencies, donors, or other stakeholders.

Grounded in its identity as a global association of individual professionals in the humanitarian sector, PHAP provides a neutral space for discussion of current policy issues, with the larger aim of contributing to greater understanding of key challenges in the humanitarian community as a whole. The recent event in Amman – which was open to PHAP members as well as guests – was the latest in a series of association activities pursuing this strategic objective.

For those who wish to engage further with the issue of the relationship between counterterrorism policies and humanitarian work, PHAP will also organize a thematic workshop later this spring as part of its Professional Development Program. The Thematic Workshop on Counterterrorism Policies and Implications for Humanitarian Action will be held in New York, 23-24 May 2013.