Working closely with communities can repair the social fabric

First, when humanitarian work is designed and carried out in cooperation with, and informed by, communities, it has the possibility of meeting the secondary objectives of helping to restore trust between people and groups, providing alternatives to violence, and supporting a peaceful shared vision for the future. This might include programmes that enable shared resource management between groups, for example, or livelihood activities that provide an alternative to joining an armed group. In addition, the ICRC’s long-term physical presence, often within remote or hard-to-reach communities, can itself provide a sense of accompaniment and protection that community-based interviewees noted was important to their sense of hope for future peace.

To take the example of Northern Ireland, community-based work has been and continues to be key to addressing legacy violence and grievances in the country, and building a more lasting peace after the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in 1998. When the ICRC started work there in 2011, it identified existing community organizations already engaged in mediation and, in response to gaps that those groups identified, it provided tools, training and financial support to amplify their work for violence prevention. It further provided a humanitarian space in which community representatives could come together to address ongoing intercommunal violence and overcome entrenched positioning to find jointly developed solutions. One community mediator reflected: “I had very black and white views when I started [the mediation work]. But through the practice and training in [humanitarian] mediation, I saw that it got results – using the humanitarian principles, looking for the good in people…”Footnote ⁶

Raising a humanitarian voice in the political arena

Second, through both its bilateral dialogue and diplomacy work, the ICRC brings needed political attention to pressing humanitarian concerns and can also help facilitate and implement agreements to address them. It leverages its dialogue with parties to conflict, authorities, States and others with influence to ensure that humanitarian issues, which if left unattended can obstruct progress towards peace, are attended to effectively and that the voices of affected people are considered in political discussions. In addition, the ICRC can at times provide a neutral and humanitarian space to bring parties together in direct communication when this would otherwise not be possible, a critical contribution to the possibility of achieving mediated solutions. When negotiated agreements are achieved, the ICRC can also offer its services to support implementation – whether by providing legal and operational expertise or global logistical capacity, or acting as a credible and neutral third-party guarantor – helping to ensure that those agreements produce tangible outcomes.

For instance, in the context of the armed conflict in Yemen, the ICRC participated in the implementation of the Prisoner Exchange Agreement between the parties, which is one of three elements of the 2018 Stockholm Agreement. While progress has been hard-won, two large detainee release operations have taken place in October 2020 and April 2023, resulting in the release of some 2,000 people. The ICRC’s participation helped to secure the parties’ confidence in the process and its successful implementation, because it had widespread presence and acceptance in the territory from which detainees would be released, the logistics capacity to carry out large release operations, a recognized mandate, and long-standing professional expertise working with conflict-related detainees. The releases had tremendous humanitarian impact – on the individuals released, their families and their communities – and while no peace deal has yet been reached, the releases helped to demonstrate a commitment by the parties to respect the humanity of the “enemy” and showed that negotiations could lead to results. One diplomat considered that they “were a way of showing parties they could work together, they created some trust in the idea that delivering is possible on other issues … and they gave the average Yemeni citizen some hope”.Footnote ⁷

Promoting respect for human dignity by strengthening laws, norms and institutions

Finally, by strengthening the implementation of IHL, and more broadly promoting respect for norms that centre on protection of human dignity, the ICRC supports a multilateral environment more conducive to peace. It speaks from first-hand knowledge of conflicts around the world to remind all parties of the devastating human cost of war, and draws on its role as the reference organization on IHL to advise on respect for and compliance with the law. In this work, it aims to reflect the humanitarian principles at the heart of IHL in national, regional and multilateral institutions, and to strengthen the capacities of those institutions. Respect for the rule of law is itself strongly correlated with prospects for peace, and laws that aim to protect human dignity are particularly important since it is respect for human dignity that must be the foundation of any sustainable peace.

The ICRC’s work in Colombia provides one example of this engagement at the national level. After supporting the negotiation of the humanitarian aspects of the 2016 peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC), the ICRC provided technical, legal and financial assistance to support the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, the Search Unit for Missing Persons and the Truth Commission, each established by the accord. It also supports the organization created by demobilized ex-FARC fighters to search for missing persons. The ICRC’s support to Colombian institutions helps to ensure that they reflect international legal requirements (e.g. regarding amnesties and other questions relevant to the post-conflict environment and transitional justice), that they attend to the concerns of affected people, and that they reach the communities most affected by violence in rural and remote areas in order to provide a tangible peace dividend. At the same time, in light of the eight non-international armed conflicts currently ongoing in the country,Footnote ⁸ the ICRC continues to engage with armed groups and government forces to promote knowledge of and respect for IHL. In addition to its relevance to governing hostilities, IHL is considered an important shared framework for future peace negotiations between the State and the remaining armed groups in Colombia, building from the country’s experience in the process leading to the 2016 accord.

At the international level, the ICRC has also contributed a humanitarian perspective to inform the development of multilateral consensus on key issues related to peace. For example, it has promoted multilateral disarmament on humanitarian grounds since the First World War, when it called for a ban on chemical weapons after witnessing their horrific effects in its field hospitals. It has since been instrumental in the adoption of almost all humanitarian disarmament treaties, such as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and its Protocols, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and the Cluster Munitions Convention. The ICRC’s diplomatic efforts have been credited by some as being key to achieving the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – considered by many to be the cornerstone of a peaceful international order – and its call for a treaty on autonomous weapons systems is made in the same spirit of mitigating indiscriminate and widespread human suffering and keeping respect for human dignity at the centre of the international system of cooperation.

A humanitarian contribution to peace is necessarily limited in scope – humanitarians will not participate in political discussions of what peace should look like in a given place or for a given community – but humanitarian actors do have an important impact on the environment in which peace is built. The ICRC’s ability to contribute to prospects for peace derives from some key factors: its mandate, deriving from the Geneva Conventions; its legal and technical expertise across key issues relevant to peace; its long-standing operational presence in armed conflicts; its logistics capacity; its mode of action, particularly its confidential dialogue; its right of humanitarian initiative and role as a neutral intermediary; its ability to draw on experience across regions and over decades; and its partnership with National Societies. Its key contributions include:

• • As a neutral intermediary, facilitating dialogue between parties to conflict on humanitarian issues, often in support of formal processes led by peace actors. Addressing humanitarian concerns can bring parties to the table and provide a basis for further dialogue on the deeper political issues, and spaces for neutral dialogue are very valuable in an increasingly polarized world.

• • Drawing on its operational presence in communities, the ICRC can often provide nuanced perspective on the humanitarian impacts of a conflict as well as experience of how such impacts have been addressed in other conflict resolution processes.

• • Shaping the development of IHL and other protective norms and standards on issues that can contribute to a more peaceful international environment, such as humanitarian disarmament. In addition, the ICRC’s role in disseminating IHL and supporting its domestication contributes to respect for the rule of law at all levels, which is strongly correlated with prospects for peace.

• • Sharing analysis and facilitating safe access for peace actors. Through its access and acceptance, often a result of its long presence, the ICRC has been able to facilitate access for peace actors, which in turn enriches their understanding of conflicts and can enable contact with conflict actors.

While some of the findings of the Through Humanity to Peace report are specific to the ICRC, many apply more broadly to humanitarian organizations and other actors who also see and address the real-time impact of conflict on people. These contributions can complement or bolster broader efforts to build and maintain peace by actors at the local, national, regional and international level. To contribute effectively requires greater awareness by humanitarian actors of the ways in which they can and do already impact the wider environment, and more intentionality in engaging with other actors and in undertaking their humanitarian work.

Contributing to the prospects for peace effectively and intentionally is complex, demanding careful assessment of risks and sensitivities, and it is not possible for the ICRC, or other humanitarian actors, to take up these roles where to do so would put at risk humanitarian objectives or the safety and security of personnel. However, it was clear from the research both that it is of clear humanitarian value to engage in these ways whenever possible, and that the ICRC has itself benefited from doing so – for example, through increased awareness of and support for its mandate and operations.