On 19 December 2023, the Centre de Crise et de Soutien of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs held the 6th Conference Nationale Humanitaire in Paris. The conference was opened by Mrs. Catherine Colonna, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, followed by opening remarks from major humanitarian stakeholders. A first roundtable on “Adapting the humanitarian response to increasing needs” took place.
LAW was invited to participate in the second roundtable of the day, “Protecting humanitarian action in a context where international humanitarian law is threatened”. The panelists discussed a set of issues to answer the question “given the resurgence of crisis and armed conflicts, how can we ensure that aid is delivered to the beneficiaries while guaranteeing their protection and that of humanitarian workers?”.
The high-level panel included Charlotte Schneider, Director of International Operations, Action Against Hunger (ACF), Ghislaine Doucet, Senior Legal Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Florence Cormon, French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Directorate for the United Nations, International Organisations, Human Rights and the Francophonie and Camille Delbourgo, Programme Manager at LAW. Christina Wille, Director of the NGO Insecurity Insight, opened the questions from the floor.
Florence Daunis, Director of Operations at Handicap International/Humanity and Inclusion, was the rapporteur for this session. During the restitution of the roundtable, she highlighted that it was crucial for states to respect international humanitarian law, and to make every efforts to ensure its armed personnel and representatives implemented it. She concluded that the French Humanitarian Strategy for 2023 to 2027 must be the basis for a concrete plan of action and the strengthening of the dialogue between state institutions and humanitarian actors.