What is the protection under international law of humanitarian and other personnel?
International humanitarian law contains numerous provisions obliging parties to an armed conflict to respect and protect humanitarian personnel and to enable them to assist and protect victims of armed conflict. The parties also have an obligation to protect relief consignments and facilitate their rapid distribution. While the exact principles operationally guiding the work of humanitarian agencies are determined by each individual organization, it is also a general IHL rule that assistance missions must be humanitarian and impartial in character and be conducted on a non-discriminatory basis (“without any adverse distinction”). Under the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC – see below) it is a war crime to intentionally attack “personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance” mission in both international and non-international armed conflict. In addition to the protection enjoyed by all humanitarian personnel under internationa
