Australia: Challenges of principled humanitarian action

In November 2015, the ICRC and Deakin University gathered representatives from humanitarian organizations for a closed roundtable in Melbourne on the costs and challenges of adhering to the principles of humanitarian action.

The roundtable was held as part of the global Research and Debate Cycle on Principles Guiding Humanitarian Action, a series of high-level events and experts meetings coordinated by the ICRC on several continents throughout 2015.

In this video, we speak with a number of participants of the Melbourne event to gain a deeper insight into the realities of applying the principles - humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence - and their relevance in 21st century conflict zones.