Note from PILAC
This Working Group Briefing Memorandum arose out of a request raised at the November 2015 Workshop of the Senior Law and Policy Working Group of the Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement (CHE) Project at Harvard Law School. Since 2012, the CHE Project, which is now part of the HLS Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, has conducted independent research on dilemmas at the intersection of humanitarian action and counterterrorism measures. Building on that ongoing analysis, the CHE Project has briefed senior decision-makers in international humanitarian NGOs, U.N. humanitarian and counterterrorism bodies, and governments. At the November 2015 Workshop, senior humanitarian operators requested additional information and analysis on so-called “humanitarian exemptions.” Without wading into broader associated debates or adopting a particular normative position, this Briefing Memorandum outlines, in a question-and-answer format, some of the foundational issues. The primary target audience is the Senior Law and Policy Working Group of the CHE Project and other humanitarian actors.
Katie King, a J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School and a PILAC Research Assistant, drafted this Working Group Briefing Memorandum, which Naz K. Modirzadeh (PILAC Director and Lecturer on Law at HLS) and Dustin A. Lewis (PILAC Senior Researcher) also contributed to.
This briefing memorandum, as well as additional information about and the publications of the CHE Project, are available free of charge online at http://pilac.law.harvard.edu.