From emergency relief to development holds: the developmental shift in the ICRC’s humanitarian assistance in protracted conflict

Abstract The challenge of responding to wide-ranging and long-term humanitarian needs that arise in situations of protracted conflict in a sustainable manner has prompted a developmental shift in humanitarian assistance in the past decades. In the case of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), this developmental shift has had two facets. The nature and scope of humanitarian assistance delivered by the organization has transformed over time, expanding beyond emergency relief to the delivery of essential services, rebuilding of civilian infrastructures, livelihood support and training, and institutional capacity building. The organization has also begun to collaborate with development organizations. Most notably, the ICRC and the World Bank have entered into an Operational Framework Agreement to partner in conflict-affected situations, which requires conditions such as demonstration of a robust development rationale for an ICRC operation to be financed by the World Bank. This article offers a critical assessment of this developmental shift and the international law issues it raises, investigating in particular the extent to which expansive humanitarian assistance activities align with the assistance mandate envisaged in international humanitarian law, and what the developmental shift means for impartiality, neutrality, and independence of humanitarian assistance. The article ultimately demonstrates how the ICRC pragmatically re-interprets its assistance mandate and understanding of humanitarian principles to meet evolving humanitarian needs and to navigate the requirements of development funding.