The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law

Volume 4, Issue 1, September 2001

A publication of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law

Self-Regulation Reports

The Humanitarian Accountability Project

Established in Geneva earlier this year as an “inter-agency initiative towards those affected by crisis situations and to facilitate improved performance within the humanitarian sector,” the Humanitarian Accountability Project (HAP) has just established a website at www.hapgeneva.org.   

Dr. Agnes Callamard, Co-Director of HAP, writes that the project will begin to explore the legal dimensions within which humanitarian activities take place in order to help to formulate legal and ethical standards affecting UN agencies, funding states, and international humanitarian NGOs carry out their activities toward affected populations. 

The following note from HAP describes the scope of the project and its goals:

Issues to be Addressed:  

1. What legal standards apply to:
   • UNHCR, other UN agencies
   • Donor governments  
   • NGO’s
2. Under what circumstances do the following laws apply:
   • International Humanitarian Law
   • Human Rights Law
   • Refugee LawRefugee Convention
   • Principles on internally displaced persons
   • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
   • Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
   • Domestic laws in country of conflict  
   • Domestic laws of country of the actor
   • MOU’s
   • UN SC Resolutions
   • Codes of Conduct
   • Contracts
   • Professional Standards 
   • Internal standards developed by the organization providing assistance
3. How do the various laws interact; are there conflicts?
4. What are the legal obligations of the actors involved in humanitarian activities?
5. What ethical obligations are there for the actors involved in humanitarian activities?
6. When there is no functioning domestic legal system, what rule of law applies and who can enforce it?
7. Who or what determines the obligations of the actors – do they decide for themselves or is there another source of obligation?
8. Once an organization offers assistance, what obligations, if any, attach? Does the organization have an affirmative duty to carry out its obligations?
9. What if the obligations are not met; what is the sanction or recourse?
10. If an obligation does exist, to whom do they owe the obligation – the local government or the population being served?
11. What problems arise due to overlapping or conflicting obligations of various organizations?
12. If Memorandums of Understanding are used, what obligations arise from them and are there any means of enforcing the obligations?

Goals of the Project:

• To develop a set of ethical or legal arguments defining the nature of the duties and obligations of funding states towards effected populations.
• To develop a set of ethical or legal arguments defining the nature of the duties and obligations of UN agencies and international humanitarian NGOs towards affected populations.

For further information about HAP, please contact Dr. Callamard at callamard@hotmail.com.

Copyright © 2012 The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL)
ISSN: 1556-5157