Integrated Missions: A Threat to Humanitarian Security?

The debate between humanitarians and ‘pro-integrationists’ on the role of integrated missions has been long and contentious. While concerns regarding the politicization of humanitarian action are well founded, actual evidence regarding the impacts of integrated missions on humanitarian operations, including the security of aid workers themselves, has been weak. Nevertheless, humanitarians' attempts to retain the principles of operational neutrality and independence remain important in the context of politically motivated violence against humanitarian actors. In integrated missions, minimalist approaches to integration are more likely to improve coordination on humanitarian action than maximalist approaches that may preclude the participation of non-UN humanitarian actors.