Humanitarian Diplomacy: Assessing Policies, Practices and Impact of New Forms of Humanitarian Action and Foreign Policy

Det kan være vanskelig for beslutningstakere og humanitære hjelpeorganisasjoner å få tilgang til konflikt- og katastrofeområder. Ofte må slik tilgang forhandles fram. Dette prosjektet har sett nærmere på hvordan Qatar, Tyrkia og De forente arabiske emirater, og internasjonale hjelpeorganisasjoner, som for eksempel UNOCHA, fører slike forhandlinger og hvilke konsekvenser slikt humanitært diplomati har. Humanitært diplomati spiller en stadig større rolle i både nye og gamle væpnede konflikter og kriser. Det blir brukt både som et verktøy for å planlegge bistand og nødhjelp, og som et utenrikspolitisk verktøy som kan rettferdiggjøre ulike former for inngripen. Dette prosjektet har bidratt til økt akademisk og praktisk kunnskap om humanitært diplomati og humanitære forhandlinger. Det har fylt et gap mellom den økende akademiske interessen for humanitært diplomati og behovet for å identifisere hvilke retningslinjer de som jobber humanitært forholder seg til i praksis. De aktivitetene, arrangementene og publikasjonene som har kommet til som et resultat av prosjektet har lagt til rette for avansert opplæring i humanitært diplomati, utveksling av erfaringer mellom folk som jobber med humanitære spørsmål, fremmet nye metoder for å studere humanitært diplomati, økt kunnskapen om hvordan humanitært diplomati gjøres på best mulig måte i praksis, og sørget for møter og idéutvekslinger mellom akademikere og praktikere.

The project results contribute to a better understanding of how humanitarian diplomacy has evolved over time and how it is practiced nowadays. Grounded and evidence-based knowledge of theories and practices of humanitarian diplomacy can help practitioners and policy makers to understand if, how, and to what extent humanitarian diplomacy is effective in prioritizing the challenge of leaving no one behind, as stipulated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Another major outcome of the project is to show possible misuses (especially by state actors) of humanitarian diplomacy to legitimize foreign policy interests. As a pivotal, comprehensive study of humanitarian diplomacy, the project results address some of the main preoccupations of humanitarian organizations, donors and policy makers, including the gender dimension of humanitarian diplomatic practices, the potentials and limits of frontline negotiations, and the capacity to reach the most vulnerable in situations of crisis and emergency.

This project aims to study the policies, practices and impact of humanitarian diplomacy (HD) as conducted by select state actors and new donors (Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, UAE) and two major international humanitarian actors (the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross). Today we have some knowledge of what constitutes the field of HD (structure, functions, norms), but we don't know when (and under what conditions) particular policies/practices in the larger inventory of HD actually "work," why, and what "work" means, for whom and in what sense. This project builds on three main hypotheses: (1) HD produces a shift in the humanitarian agenda from ad hoc action to an extended politics of soft power (i.e. to the capacity to mobilize a network of influence to establish the presence of a specific humanitarian actor in the international arena and to negotiate access to aid); (2) the identity of the actor (state, organizational, international) and its interests do not simply produce different understandings but rather different practices and, moreover, effects of HD; (3) as a new frontier of international relations and foreign policy, HD broadly redefines modes and priorities of humanitarian efforts and of humanitarian/political negotiations in complex emergencies. In order to test these hypotheses on the ground, the research will address the perspectives of the actors who are most significantly interested in and affected by the policies and practices of HD, namely humanitarian practitioners, diplomats and policy makers. The combination of three integrated work packages and the interdisciplinary approach of the project will produce a corpus of knowledge that will directly inform an international "Humanitarian Diplomacy Exchange and Training Program" based at CMI. This will allow the project to transfer the knowledge gained through original research into policy expertise and network building with the aim of improving practices.