Humanitarian access is a specific legal term, referred to the ability by neutral humanitarian actors (such as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

, the

ICRC The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signator ...

, and foreign or local

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

s), to enter an area during a conflict, to provide humanitarian aid as well as monitor and promote human rights. As of 2007, a region where humanitarian access is a problem is Darfur. Whether due to restrictions posed by the Government or by other parties to the conflict, or whether due to general insecurity, humanitarian access is bad in many areas and continues to worsen, as the areas of limited or no access for humanitarians rise.

References

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OCHA The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaste ...

: Handbook of Humanitarian Terms (''soon available online'') Legal terminology