Humanitarian Diplomacy: Modern Concepts and Approaches

ISSN 1019-3316, Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2022, Vol. 92, Suppl. 14, pp. S1349–S1366. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2022. Russian Text © The Author(s), 2022, published in Mezhdunarodnye Protsessy, 2022, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 166–191. Humanitarian Diplomacy: Modern Concepts and Approaches O. Bogatyreva Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N.Yeltsin, Yekaterinburg, 620002 Russia e-mail: Received October 25, 2022; revised November 11, 2022; accepted November 28, 2022 Abstract—Modern trends in global development have significantly pushed the boundaries of modern diplomacy, an area that should be an effective tool for global dialogue. This study is focused on the humanitarian sector of diplomacy. The main discussions about approaches to the concept of humanitarian diplomacy that arose against the background of the idea of “humanism 2.0,” about the spread of the practice of humanitarian negotiations, and about the creation of humanitarian spaces are considered. The main approaches of foreign and Russian researchers to the concepts of humanitarian diplomacy are examined. Then, the tools of humanitarian diplomacy are analyzed and the similarities and differences with traditional official diplomacy tools are highlighted. It is established that nonstate actors play an important political role in hymanitarian negotiations aimed at modern conflicts resolution. The role of the United Nations in creating a humanitarian partnership with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is acknowledged. Attention is also paid to the humanitarian diplomacy of states, and the diversity of national models is noted. The main motives that encourage states to participate in humanitarian diplomacy are studied, and the main directions are highlighted. It is shown that today humanitarian practice is acquiring a polymodal, complex character. It includes humanitarian aid, social policy, and economic assistance in the context of the paradigm of sustainable development. The use of diplomatic tools and, above all, negotiations have a positive impact on the effectiveness of humanitarian activities in armed conflicts and crisis situations. Keywords: diplomacy, humanitarian diplomacy, humanitarian aid, humanism, peacemaking, human rights DOI: 10.1134/S1019331622200047 Humanitarian diplomacy has thus far been neglected in academic research, which contrasts with the practical work of specialist practitioners in complex emergencies. Its nomination as an independent section of diplomatic practice is caused by the intensification of humanitarian activities in the context of armed interventions, international operations for civilian persons protection, natural disasters, and internal armed conflicts. In the 21st century Humanity continues to face high levels of suffering, and “the human cost exacted by conflict and violence is appalling.”1 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his report at the World Humanitarian Summit 2016, noted that 125 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and hundreds of thousands of civilians around the world are being persecuted, tortured, forcibly displaced, wounded, or killed, and humiliated.2 By the end of the 2010s, more than 65 million 1 ICRC Strategy 2019–2022: Institutional strategy, Geneva, 2018, p. 3. 2 United Nations, “One Humanity Shared Responsibility: Report of the United Nations Secretary-General for the World Humanitarian Summit.” http://sgreport.worldhumanitariansummit.org/. Cited January 10, 2021. people had become internally displaced due to armed conflicts.3 The COVID-19 pandemic has also proved the importance of the humanitarian aspects of international relations. At the end of 2020, the Global Humanitarian Survey estimated that 235 million of the most vulnerable people in 56 countries were facing hunger, conflict, displacement, and effects of climate change.4 According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at the same time, there were 82.4 million people around the world forcibly displaced around the world.5 In the conditions of multifunctionality and combination of modern peacekeeping formats, peacebuilding, humanitarian aid, and international development 3 Borgomeo, E., Delivering water services during protracted armed conflicts: How development agencies can overcome barriers to collaboration with humanitarian actors, International Review of the Red Cross, 2019, vol. 101, no. 912, p. 1068. 4 “The Global Humanitarian Overview 2021: Snapshot as of May 31, 2021.” https://www.unocha.org/sites/unocha/files/ GHO_Monthly_Update_31MAY2021.pdf. Cited September 21, 2021. 5 UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency, “Global Trends Forced Displacement in 2020.” https://www.unhcr.org/flagshipreports/globaltrends/. Cited September 10, 2021. S1349 S1350 BOGATYREVA overlap on a conceptual level.6 Practically, activities in these areas are often disconnected reducing the prospects for conflict resolution. Referring to the experience of NGOs, researchers offer to take a comprehensive view of conflicts by coordinating disparate actions within the framework of humanitarian diplomacy.7 Humanitarian diplomacy as an independent area of diplomatic activity crystallized after the end of the Cold War and focused on “maximizing support for operations and programs, and building the partnerships necessary if humanitarian objectives are to be achieved.”8 Currently, it has become one of the areas of diplomacy providing a humanitarian response to situations of armed conflicts, mass displacement, epidemics, or natural disasters. At the same time, the diversity of priorities, goals, and players involved in emergency situations causes differences in comprehension of humanitarian diplomacy, and the concept itself still raises skepticism due to the lack of term definition recognized by the international community.9 The meaning of humanitarian diplomacy diverges in different variants of conceptualization as broadly as the number of organizations using this term and the operations they conduct. Some authors perceive it as a limited and irregular activity; others see it as an alternative to official diplomacy10; the rest believes that humanitarian diplomacy is a “sculptor of possibilities” of humanism, formed to create space for a humanitarian impact.11 The purpose of this article is to explore the outlines of the emerging concepts of humanitarian diplomacy in foreign and domestic 6 Zinovskii, Yu.G., Multilateral diplomacy and peacekeeping in the world of today, Vestnik MGIMO University, 2010, no. 6 (15), pp. 65–74; Korver, R., “Peacebuilding at the Intersection with Development and Humanitarian Aid,” Beyond Intractability, May 2020. https://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/peacebuildingdevelopment-humanitarian-aid. Cited June 25, 2020. 7 Tabak, H., Broadening the nongovernmental humanitarian mission: The IHH and mediation, Insight Turkey, 2015, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 193–215. 8 Regnier, Ph., The emerging concept of humanitarian diploma (...truncated)