Integration and coherence: is there a future for independent humanitarian action? A legal inquiry into the provision of humanitarian assistance and protection during armed conflict today.

This article challenges, from a legal perspective, the valid­ity of independent humanitarian action (HA) during armed con­flict in the face of the United Nations integration and coherence doctrine. The traditional legal foundations of humanitarian ac­tion in war are reviewed. In the last decades the modus oper­andi of actors in armed conflict and their interpretation of in­ternational law has evolved and in this framework International Human Rights Law (IHRL) has become the main legal resort to legitimise humanitarian intervention. Confusion between military, political and humanitarian in­volvement in conflicts has eroded the legal principies of inde­pendent HA in favour of opportunities for general law enforce­ment and IHRL protection and promotion. This paper concludes that there are legal grounds to advocate for independent HA, in order to maintain the humanitarian imperative and the interests of the victims of war, as a valid action in itself without attaching HA to objectives of global peace, security and human rights.