Humanitarian Aid in Armed Conflict: Legal Obligations under International Humanitarian Law and Lessons from Sri Lanka

The concept of humanitarian aid (HA) has gained renewed prominence in light of contemporary armed conflicts, including the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Palestine. Humanitarian aid refers to assistance provided to victims to relieve suffering during emergency situations and is conceptually and legally distinct from development aid aimed at long-term socio-economic objectives. This paper examines the legality of the provision of humanitarian aid under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), with particular focus on whether the denial or deliberate obstruction of humanitarian assistance constitutes a war crime. Using Sri Lanka’s experience during the final phase of the non-international armed conflict in 2009 as a case study, the study adopts a doctrinal legal research methodology based on a comprehensive review of international treaties, customary international law, government reports, and relevant resolutions of international bodies. The analysis demonstrates that parties to both international armed conflicts and non-international armed conflicts are legally bound under treaty and customary IHL to allow and facilitate unimpeded access to impartial humanitarian assistance. The paper concludes that Sri Lanka’s approach to the provision of humanitarian aid during the final phase of the conflict reflects substantial compliance with core IHL principles and is broadly consistent with established humanitarian jurisprudence.