ABSTRACT
Humanitarians can be viewed as intermediaries, a go-between or messenger who does not affect the final transaction. This is most apparent in their capacity to move freely around the humanitarian arena, accessing affected communities on the grounds that they remain neutral and impartial. This chapter begins by examining these humanitarian intermediaries, and how their work has been effective to some extent in creating humanitarian space and limiting the behaviour of armed actors. Their operational role follows logically from this intermediary position, providing neutral and impartial relief, speaking on behalf of at-risk communities, and as disseminators of the humanitarian norms and protection frameworks. In negotiating this freedom of movement, humanitarian intermediaries are selective in the tools and language they turn to. This is not the traditional political negotiation involving interest seeking, transactions and power games between different political players.
