Humanitarian negotiations with armed non-state actors: Key lessons from Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia

Insurgents and other armed groups are often seen as inherently predatory and hostile to aid workers, attacking staff, extorting money and looting goods and equipment, denying access and expelling aid organisations from areas under their control. Yet in-depth analysis of armed groups has been largely neglected in the literature on humanitarian principles and aid worker security, and aid agencies often lack the information they need to successfully engage with these actors to gain access to populations under their control. This HPG Policy Brief summarises key lessons from a two-year research project on humanitarian negotiations with ANSAs in Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan.

This report was originally published by the Overseas Development Institute.