Entities with a mission to prevent and/or alleviate human suffering in armed conflicts. They are usually involved in: searching for, collecting and transporting the wounded and sick, missing and dead; providing medical treatment to the wounded and sick; assisting prisoners of war; and assisting the civilian population through the provision of humanitarian relief. They are also sometimes referred to in IHL as impartial humanitarian bodies.

Relief societies constitute a particular type of humanitarian organization. Such societies are recognized by their respective governments and their staff are placed on the same footing as military medical personnel, provided that such staff are subject to military laws and regulations.

Nowadays most societies of this kind are National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies.

In armed conflicts, relief societies of neutral countries can lend the assistance of their medical personnel and medical units to a party to the conflict, provided they previously obtain the consent of their own government and the authorization of the party to the conflict they aid, and that the adverse party to the conflict is informed in advance.

Besides relief societies, other examples of humanitarian organizations include intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations with its different programs and funds (e.g. UNHCR, UNICEF, UNRWA etc), and non-governmental organizations like Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). Finally, special mention must be made of the ICRC, a humanitarian organization with several protection and assistance functions specifically mentioned in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols.

See Access, ICRC, Humanitarian Assistance; National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies; Relief societies;

 OUTLINE

Chapter 9, IV. 4. Protection of those providing humanitarian assistance

 LEGAL SOURCES

common 3/2 (see ICRC updated Commentary)

GCI, 9 (see ICRC updated Commentary) 10 (see ICRC updated Commentary)

GCII, 9 (see ICRC updated Commentary) 10 (see ICRC updated Commentary)

GCIII, 9-10

GCIV, 10-11, 15/1, 59/2, 61/1 and 96

PI, 5/3-4, 60, 70

PII, 18

CIHL, 31-32, 55-56

 DOCUMENTS

ICRC, Protection of War Victims (Para. 3.3.)

First Periodical Meeting, Chairman’s Report (Part II. 1)

 CASES

Central African Republic/Incidents of Violence Against Humanitarian Organizations

Counterterrorism and IHL, Humanitarian Exemptions (Document B, para. 41)

The International Criminal Court (Part A., Art. 8(2)(b)(iii))

ICRC’s Approach to Contemporary Security Challenges

UN, Secretary-General’s Reports on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Part B., paras 58-60)

UN, UN Forces in Somalia

Yemen, Potential Existence and Effects of Naval Blockade

Syria, the Battle for Aleppo

Eastern Ukraine, OHCHR Report on the Situation: November 2016 - February 2017

South Sudan, Attack in Malakal UN Protection Site

 BIBLIOGRPAHIC RESOURCES

BIERENS DE HAAN Barthold, Humanitarian Action and Armed Conflict: Coping with Stress, Geneva, ICRC, July 2001, 3rd ed., 28 pp.   MACKINTOSH Kate, “Beyond the Red Cross: the Protection of Independent Humanitarian Organizations and their Staff in International Humanitarian Law”, in IRRC, Vol. 89, No. 865, March 2007, pp. 113-130.   RUFIN Jean-Christophe, “The Paradoxes of Armed Protection”, in Médecins Sans Frontières (ed.), Life, Death and Aid, New York, Routledge, 1993, pp. 111-123.   SLIM Hugo, “Doing the Right Thing: Relief Agencies, Moral Dilemmas and Moral Responsibility in Political Emergencies and Wars”, in Studies on Emergencies and Disaster Relief, No. 6, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala, 1997, 18 pp.   SUY Erik, “La protection des volontaires humanitaires dans les conflits armés non-internationaux et dans les operations de secours en cas de catastrophes”, in Des Menschen Recht Zwischen Freiheit und Verantwortung: Festschrift für Karl Josef Partsch zum 75 Geburtstag, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 1989, pp. 173-182