text: Chapter 3
  3-152. The neutrality and independence of humanitarian workers is especially important in politicized or
  conflict environments where political or armed actors are unwilling or unable to respect international
  humanitarian law and are targeting humanitarian workers, the assistance they provide, or the communities
  they are trying to assist. Humanitarian actors may also be concerned about situations where they can be
  confused with participants in an armed conflict. This can happen where military or other security forces
  provide goods and services directly to communities. Humanitarian actors may have other relationships to
  armed actors, such as receiving funds, even when the humanitarians are not part of the conflict. Therefore,
  each humanitarian agency has different interests and limitations regarding engagement with political and
  military actors, regardless of whether military units are tasked to facilitate humanitarian assistance or
  protect civilians. This diversity can create a confusing environment for Army units that may share common
  goals with humanitarian actors.
  3-153. Humanitarians have developed guidelines to help clarify best practices for civil-military
  engagement and established sophisticated coordination mechanisms and offices tasked with engaging
  political and military actors at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. For example, as discussed
  earlier, humanitarian organizations often meet in clusters. Clusters are coordinating bodies organized by
  functions such as water and sanitation, protection, emergency shelter, and others. The cluster leads have
  responsibilities to liaise with external actors. Offices such as the UN Humanitarian Coordinator and the UN
  Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, if present, may also liaise with military and political
  actors.
  3-154. Military support is more effective when Army units clearly understand the principles, codes of
  conduct, and policies that guide and sometimes limit humanitarian action and its interface with military
  actors.
  3-155. Even in those situations where military forces are not directly involved, a focused and integrated
  humanitarian response is essential to alleviating suffering and reestablishing a stable environment that
  fosters a lasting peace to support broader national and international interests. Providing humanitarian aid
  and assistance is primarily the responsibility of specialized nonmilitary organizations and agencies, such as
  USAID. Nevertheless, military forces often support humanitarian response activities either as part of a
  broader campaign, such as Operation Iraqi Freedom, or a specific humanitarian assistance or disaster relief
  operation. These activities usually consist of stability tasks and generally fall under the primary stability
  task restore essential services. The discussion beginning with paragraph 3-156 outlines the guiding
  principles used by the international community to frame humanitarian response activities.
  3-156. Generally, the host nation or affected country coordinates humanitarian response. However, if the
  host nation or affected country is unable to do so, the United Nations often leads the international
  community response on its behalf. The principles that guide the military contribution to that response are
  fundamental to success in unified land operations. These principles reflect the collective experience of a
  diverse group of actors in a wide range of interventions conducted over decades across the world. They
  help to shape the humanitarian component of operations focused on stability.
  3-157. UN General Assembly Resolution 46/182 governs the humanitarian response efforts of the
  international community. It articulates the principal tenets for providing humanitarian assistance—
  humanity, neutrality, and impartiality—while promulgating the guiding principles that frame all
  humanitarian response activities. These guiding principles are drawn from four primary, albeit separate,
  sources:
  * InterAction and the DOD.
  * International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
  * Oslo Guidelines.
  * The Interagency Standing Committee.
  InterAction and the Department of Defense
  3-158. InterAction is the largest coalition of U.S.-based NGOs focused on the world’s poorest and most
  vulnerable people. Collectively, its members work in every developing country. Members meet people
  halfway in expanding opportunities. They support gender equality in education, health care, agriculture,
  small business, and other areas.