Carve-out in Kabul: hard won resolution lifts humanitarian roadblock in Afghanistan by ICRC Humanitarian Law & Policy Blog

On 22 December 2021, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution on Afghanistan introducing, for the only the second time in 30 UN sanction regimes, an explicit humanitarian carve-out. For those providing humanitarian assistance and supporting basic human needs in Afghanistan, donors, and private partners, the exemption gives much-needed assurance that they can continue their operations in Afghanistan without fear they are running afoul of UN sanctions against members of the Taliban and associated persons and entities, as well as the Haqqani Network.

What is a humanitarian carve-out, why was it so urgently necessary in the first place, and where do we go from here? In this post, Helen Durham, ICRC Director of Law and Policy in Geneva, and Chris Harland, ICRC Operational Legal Coordinator in New York, unpack the most pressing issues.