Humanitarian pauses and corridors in contexts of conflict

What examples and evidence is there of humanitarian pauses and corridors in conflict contexts and where they worked, what was the process for their creation? What guidance is available on establishing such humanitarian pauses or corridors in conflict situations?

This rapid review explores the literature on humanitarian corridors and humanitarian pauses (see definitions section) in contexts of conflict. The review utilised grey literature produced by research organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and humanitarian organisations as well as academic literature. Key word searches used general search engines (such as Google and Google Scholar) as well as more specialised databases (such as ALNAP, ReliefWeb and Humanitarian Response). In general, there is a lack of academic research on humanitarian corridors and humanitarian pauses specifically, although more can be found on the broader terms of humanitarian access and safe areas in general.1 Humanitarian pauses in particular has a dearth of detailed published information about them. Although some practitioner and descriptive information and literature was identified (see historic examples section), little detailed information on how these were negotiated was found. This is not surprising given the often delicate and sensitive nature of ceasefires and negotiations. More information was found on humanitarian corridors, although academic literature was still limited, and practitioner and grey literature dominated. Particularly newspaper articles and opinion pieces from practitioners in the field with experience of humanitarian corridors. Again little detail or evidence of how these corridors were negotiated was discussed in the literature identified.