The Foreign Service Journal, April 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2016 19 FSJ: What is humanitarian diplomacy, and how has its practice evolved since the establishment of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1950? Kelly T. Clements: From the perspective of the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, the aim of humanitarian diplomacy is to protect, assist and find solutions for refugees, internally displaced persons, stateless persons and other persons of concern to the agency. Humanitarian diplomacy does not have a clear definition in inter- national law but draws strongly on the principles of independence, neutrality and impartiality. It requires advocacy with governments and engagement with both sovereign states and non-state actors. It involves persuading state and non-state actors to keep borders open to gain access to, protect and assist refugees and to work toward durable solutions. UNHCR is a non-political humanitarian organization, yet there is nothing about the refugee situations it confronts that is not political in nature. To address both the root causes of refu- gee movements and immediate threats to their safety, UNHCR Humanitarian Diplomacy Q&Awith Kelly Clements, Deputy HighCommissioner for Refugees An experienced practitioner addresses today's unprecedented challenges. FOCUS ON HUMANITARIAN DIPLOMACY engages with political actors in a diplomatically sophisticated manner to gain and maintain the trust of all parties, taking no side other than that of the refugee. Humanitarian diplomacy thus underpins the work of UNHCR. During my time in the State Department with the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, humanitarian diplomacy was embraced, trained and practiced by the bureau’s leader- U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly Clements, second from right, and members of the UNHCR team in Serbia talk with Syrian and Iraqi refugees stranded on the border between Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on March 8. UNHCR