From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

Benchmark 12
Cooperation with International
and Regional Organizations
Benchmark 1 Prevent Displacement and Minimize Its Adverse Effects
Does the government facilitate efforts by
international organizations to address
internal displacement?
When a government does not have the capacity to
protect and assist IDPs within its territory, it has a
responsibility to seek external assistance, including financial
support, operational assistance, and technical
expertise. International law does not explicitly provide
for the right of IDPs to humanitarian assistance except
during international armed conflicts, when civilians in
occupied territories have the right to directly solicit and
receive humanitarian assistance from international humanitarian
organizations.
In all situations of armed conflict, parties to the conflict
are entitled to conduct controls of humanitarian
relief but they must allow and facilitate the rapid and
unhindered passage of humanitarian assistance to civilians
in need; moreover, assistance must be provided
impartially, without adverse distinction. Parties to conflicts
must also ensure authorized humanitarian relief
workers’ freedom of movement, which is essential to the
exercise of their functions, subject only to temporary
restrictions on the basis of military necessity. Parties
to conflicts must also protect humanitarian personnel,
goods, and equipment from attack and ensure that relief
is not diverted from its intended beneficiaries. 1
The prohibition of arbitrary denial of humanitarian
access is the key element of Guiding Principle 25:
1 On the obligations discussed in this paragraph, see Fourth
Geneva Convention, Articles 23 and 59; First Additional
Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, Articles 70 and 71;
Second Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions,
Article 18; International Committee of the Red Cross,
Customary International Humanitarian Law, vol. 1, Rules,
Rule 55 and Rule 56.
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international humanitarian organizations and
other appropriate actors have the right to offer
their services in support of the internally displaced.
Such an offer shall not be regarded as
an unfriendly act or an interference in a state’s
internal affairs and shall be considered in good
faith. Consent thereto shall not be arbitrarily
withheld, particularly when authorities concerned
are unable or unwilling to provide the
required humanitarian assistance. 2
The Guiding Principles go on to say that authorities
“shall grant and facilitate the free passage of humanitarian
assistance and grant persons engaged in the provision
of such assistance rapid and unimpeded access to
the internally displaced.” At the same time, the Guiding
Principles emphasize that international actors have a
responsibility to abide by humanitarian principles and
international standards. Countries’ cooperation with
the international community takes different forms, as
detailed in the below analysis.
Overview of Research Findings
The most common form of cooperation with the international
community is for governments to solicit and
accept financial assistance and operational engagement
from donor governments and humanitarian organizations.
In all of the cases surveyed, such cooperation
has, to varying extents, been evident in addressing
internal displacement. When displacement becomes
protracted—as it has in most of the countries surveyed
here—there is further need for the participation of development
organizations. However, the transition from
humanitarian to development assistance is not automatic
or swift, and there are significant gaps between the
two in several of the countries. For example, although
the Ugandan government has developed a comprehensive
approach to supporting reconstruction and IDP
2 UN Commission on Human Rights, Guiding Principles
on Internal Displacement, E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, 1998
(www.brookings.edu/projects/idp/gp_page.aspx).