Key messages
• Engagement with armed non-state actors (ANSAs) on assistance and protection is integral to any effective humanitarian response to conflict-related needs.
• This engagement appears to have declined since the end of the Cold War, and the UN is no longer taking the lead.
• Counter-terror legislation and donor funding restrictions have discouraged, if not criminalised, dialogue, and there appears to be limited collaboration among humanitarian actors in engaging with ANSAs.
• Greater study and support is required in order to understand how humanitarian actors can successfully sustain productive humanitarian dialogue with ANSAs.