As deconfliction has become a central tool in civil-military relations within conflict zones, this concept — rooted in military jargon — raises serious questions about its actual effectiveness. Michaël Neuman examines the origins, uses, and ambiguities of these mechanisms meant to protect humanitarian actors, while highlighting the risks of replacing legal guarantees with limited contractual arrangements.

We were pleased to welcome Pierre Hazan, author of the book Négocier avec le diable. La médiation dans les conflits armés for a conference and debate on Thursday December 15th, 2022. This meeting was prepared and moderated by Rony Brauman.

The Crash team was delighted to welcome Myfanwy James, historian and lecturer in development studies, for a conference-debate on June 28, 2022. The event was prepared and moderated by Michaël Neuman (Crash) with the participation of Dr. Léon Salamu (MSF).

In 2016, the Operations Department commissioned a critical review of the operations carried out between 2015 and 2016 in Borno State by MSF France in the north east of Nigeria. In response, and with the help of Epicentre, Judith Soussan and Fabrice Weissman from CRASH produced a detailed historical account of the analyses made of the situation by the teams, capital and headquarters at the time, as well as the objectives they set themselves, the actions they undertook, the obstacles they encountered and the results they achieved.  As part of this project, some of the directors and operations managers who had been involved in these operations took a retrospective look at their own practices: were they late in responding to the catastrophic situation in the IDP camps in rural areas and on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, in 2016 and, if so, why?  What conclusions can be drawn a posteriori about the operational choices made and the effectiveness of MSF intervention strategies? And, to take things a step further, what does this experience teach us about how MSF functions and how our teams work? Interview with Isabelle Defourny, Operations Director at MSF-OCP. By Elba Rahmouni. 

How to intervene with the civilian populations in the middle of the war in Syria? Jean-Hervé Bradol, director of studies at Crash and former project coordinator for the northern part of Syria in 2013, testifies about the negotiations carried out in Syria in cities taken by groups affiliated to Al Qaeda or the Islamic State. This article was published on the Mediapart website on February 1, 2015.

Entre morale du devoir et morale des conséquences, le droit humanitaire d'urgence, pourtant reconnu internationalement, est bien difficile à appliquer.

From international NGOs to UN agencies, from donors to observers of humanitarianism, opinion is unanimous: in a context of the alleged ‘clash of civilisations’, our ‘humanitarian space’ is shrinking.

On January 26, the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hosted a discussion on the compromises and negotiations the humanitarian aid community must contend with during crisis situations.

A l'occasion de son quarantième anniversaire, Médecins Sans Frontières dévoile dans le livre "Agir à tout prix ?" son expérience des négociations humanitaires. Lors de cette conférence organisée le 14 novembre 2011, Claire Magone, Fabrice Weissman et Michaël Neuman ont présenté l'ouvrage. Cette rencontre était animée par Marie-Pierre Allié.

From international NGOs to UN agencies, from donors to observers of humanitarianism, opinion is unanimous: in a context of the alleged ‘clash of civilisations', our ‘humanitarian space' is shrinking.

Des ONG internationales aux agences de l'ONU en passant par les bailleurs de fonds, le constat est unanime : « l'espace humanitaire se rétrécit ». 

With 13,000 humanitarian workers and a hundred relief agencies, Darfur hosts the largest humanitarian operation in the world. The aid apparatus started its full deployment in mid-2004 in a context of acutely high mortality among internally displaced persons (IDPs) gathered in camps and civilians remaining in rural areas.