The Foreign Service Journal, April 2016

20 APRIL 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL ship and lean cadre of refugee coordinators. I have found in my short time as deputy high commissioner that the term is not used widely within UNHCR, and does not appear in its statute or in subsequent official policies. Yet the practice of humanitar- ian diplomacy is essential to the success of UNHCR’s work, and inherent in the daily practice of refugee protection. Still, the implication of engaging in traditionally political activity is sensitive for us; and humanitarian diplomacy has not been developed into a doctrine or a term of art by the agency. Human brutality and political failures are described in terms of flows, barriers and challenges—dull and technocratic language that, by creating distance and blunting realities, enables the nearly 100 states on the UNHCR’s governing Executive Commit- tee to take decisions on the agency’s budget and policies in a depoliticized atmosphere. Our sister agency, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has an official definition of human- itarian diplomacy that captures some, but not all, the elements practiced by UNHCR: “Humanitarian diplomacy is persuading decision-makers and opinion leaders to act, at all times, in the interests of vulnerable people, and with full respect for funda- mental humanitarian principles.” Past high commissioners have always had recourse to humanitarian diplomacy—whether in negotiations with world leaders (e.g., High Commissioner Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan’s personal intervention with Canadian Premier Pierre Trudeau in 1972 to take Ugandan refugees), exercising a ‘Good Offices’ role mandated by the secretary-general (e.g., in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, in 1972) or organizing major solutions-focused conferences (e.g., the International Conference on Refugees and Displaced Persons in Southeast Asia in 1979 and the Inter- national Conference on Central American Refugees in 1989). Individual representatives and other staff members—such as the famed, late Sergio Vieira de Mello and many others—have always known that negotiation and persuasion among all parties are the most effective and immediate ways to protect refugees. In terms of trends, there is today a greater expectation that heads of humanitarian agencies will take a leading role in political arenas and dialogues. At the Security Council, the high commissioner for refugees has a standing invitation to speak. Briefings by the emergency relief coordinator have become an almost monthly engagement, instigated in part by the role of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in negotiating Security Council Resolution 2139 on humanitar- ian access into Syria. Whereas in the past high commission- ers might wait to be given particular authorities (e.g., Special Envoys, Good Offices), today a high commissioner is expected to speak out on and advocate for issues affecting refugees and others. These interventions form an important foundation for humanitarian diplomacy. A more troubling development is the erosion of respect for humanitarian workers on the ground. The sanctity of humanitar- ian personnel, and the protection previously afforded by their mission, status and visible logos, has deteriorated to the point that in many conflicts, the UNHCR and others are deliberately targeted—usually, but not exclusively, by non-state actors. And whereas violations of diplomatic immunity are relatively rare and are treated with the utmost seriousness, the attacks against humanitarian missions appear to be the “new normal.” Coupled with national legislation restricting contacts with organizations designated terrorist and other groups, this trend weakens our ability to act impartially, and to be perceived as such. For UNHCR, a non-political actor charged with the global protection of refugees and internally displaced persons, a proven and visible track record of working impartially with all actors for protection, solutions and responsibility-sharing is one of our biggest assets. UNHCR entered 2016 with unprecedented challenges and an ambitious agenda filled with opportunities to advance humani- tarian diplomacy for the more than 60 million forcibly displaced persons in the world today. Mindful of the need to balance the political demands placed upon the high commissioner and the physical threats faced by my colleagues in some of the toughest Kelly T. Clements joined the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as deputy high com- missioner in July 2015. She had worked for the UNHCR in Bangladesh in 1992. Before joining UNHCR, she was involved with refugee and displacement issues as a civil servant in the State Department for 18 years. She was deputy assistant secretary of State in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and earlier led the bureau’s strategic planning, policy development and financial management operations. In 2014, Clements served as acting deputy chief of mission at Em- bassy Beirut. From 1993 to 1996, she served at the U.S. Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva on a Foreign Service ap- pointment. She was special assistant to the under secretary of State for global affairs (1997-1998), and served as a senior emergency officer for Europe, the Newly Independent States and the Americas, and later as Balkans assistance coordinator; and was deployed to Albania in 1999.