The problem of humanitarian access in armed conflicts

Abstract

Humanitarian access is an essential factor in humanitarian action in situations of armed conflict since it is impossible to provide direct humanitarian assistance without it. Unfortunately, the imposition of prohibitions and barriers to humanitarian aid by the warring parties has become a trend in modern armed conflicts worldwide, particularly in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. The right of access to victims of armed conflict is a fundamental element of humanitarian action since it allows humanitarian aid organizations to make independent needs assessments, ensure their effectiveness and monitor the fair distribution of such aid. However, gaining and maintaining access to the population to provide humanitarian assistance is difficult for humanitarian organizations. The provision of such access may be limited by the very fact of armed conflict and the fact that humanitarian access is usually considered ad hoc, so there are often no established methods or rules for granting such access. Although humanitarian access is not a new issue in international law, there are several challenges today in ensuring and maintaining such access in situations of armed conflict, including the understanding of the term "humanitarian access," the rights and responsibilities of participants in armed conflict, obligations, and restrictions on humanitarian organizations themselves, criteria for granting humanitarian access in various situations, etc. This article will consider the most common problems in gaining humanitarian access during armed conflicts and suggest possible ways to solve them.