Humanitarian Principles

The humanitarian principles of humanity neutrality and impartiality providean ethical framework that defines and delineates the humanitarian spacewithin which relief agencies are supposed to operate. Current experienceshowever show that these traditional principles were not designed to copewith the development underlying the increasing merging of humanitarian aidand politics. To avoid political manipulation relief organizations must rethinkthese principles and face the responsibility of getting more involved in thebroader political arena to be able to take appropriate action and to avoidlong-term damages on a society. The author examines the difficult realities ina heterogenic humanitarian environment by addressing all the complex legaland political issues surrounding an emergency including the impact of externalactors like donors host governments and armed forces. It thereforeprovides a realistic understanding for everyone who is working in the field ofhumanitarian aid and development policy of the possibilities and limits ofbeing neutral and impartial in current crisis responses. In this regard thepaper further analyzes the 'Sphere' process on how far it is taking political influenceson humanitarian aid into consideration and can thus actually beseen as a reasonable guideline for relief organizations in the 21st century.