Humanitarian Term of the Year: Deconfliction

What is it, why you should know and use it

December 27, 2024 • Reading Time: 2 minutes

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Hey fellow humanitarian leader,

We are getting to what most of the world considers the end of the year.

A horrible year for humanitarians, as by mid-November, it was already the deadliest for aid workers.

While the Gaza conflict is the reason for the high surge in victims, “Threats to aid workers extend beyond Gaza”, he noted, explaining that there are “high levels of violence, kidnappings, injuries, harassment and arbitrary detention reported in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen, among other countries”.

We are targeted everywhere.

Today, I want to introduce a word that we should all use:

Deconfliction

The exchange of information and planning advisories by humanitarian actors with military actors in order to prevent or resolve conflicts between the two sets [of] objectives, remove obstacles to humanitarian action, and avoid potential hazards for humanitarian personnel. This may include the negotiation of military pauses, temporary cessation of hostilities or ceasefires, or safe corridors for aid delivery.

UN OCHA

You should read this explanation of The New Humanitarian on Deconfliction and some of its use cases.

P.S. I prefer the term “notification”,“ but MSF’s guide to IHL explains the differences between the two terms.

The Global Protection Forum 2024

The Global Protection Cluster yearly forum took place from November 4 to 13.

Approximately 650 persons attended each of the seven sessions, for 4500 attendees from 150 countries.

Find the final report here.

Thanks for reading,
Luca