Foreign Policy: Syria Is Threatening to Break the Aid World
“…The [International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC)] fundamental principles dictate that aid should be delivered without discrimination based on political belief and that the organization should remain neutral in conflicts — but the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. resolutions creating the humanitarian system all begin by acknowledging the primacy of states. ‘So it’s no surprise that our first address is always governments and to try to seek to negotiate with them on what we are able to do,’ [ICRC President Peter Maurer] says. Maurer acknowledges that this has ‘led to a certain imbalance’ when it comes to aid delivery…” (Kenner, 3/27).