Safeguarding principled humanitarian action from the unintended negative impact of sanctions and counter-terrorism

This session will build upon developments in 2022 by addressing the unintended negative impact of sanctions and counter-terrorism, and present potential solutions to tackle practical challenges.

The session will incorporate voices from the field with the express purpose of highlighting the challenges under which humanitarian operators deliver humanitarian aid under sanctions or CT regimes. In this context, the session will discuss risk management by analysing the impact of humanitarian exemptions/derogations on increasing or lowering the risk of circumvention of sanction regimes. Finally, the session will debate the legal framework by narrowing in on the question of whether humanitarian exemptions/derogations facilitate an efficient delivery of humanitarian assistance and mitigate any potential unintended negative impact of sanctions regimes. Specifically, the session seeks to evaluate whether the harmonization of exceptions in sanctions regimes and their language facilitates the efficient delivery of humanitarian aid.