(CNN Español) — Ukraine and Russia agreed this Thursday – after a second round of conversations in Belarus and when it is fulfilled a week after the start of the invasion— establish humanitarian corridors for civilians. What are they and what are their limits?
“The key thing that we have agreed today was a matter of rescuing civilians who were in a military shock zone. The Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries agreed to provide humanitarian corridors for civilians and a possible temporary ceasefire in the areas where the evacuation is taking place,” the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said after the two-and-a-half-hour meeting. His Ukrainian counterpart, Mykhailo Podoliak, confirmed that a solution to establish the corridors had been achieved, but at the same time stated that “the results that Ukraine needs have not yet been achieved.”
What is a humanitarian corridor?
The humanitarian corridors are “ways that facilitate the safe circulation, free of attacks, of humanitarian aid and of the victims of armed conflicts”, explains the Fundación de Español Urgente, Fundeu.
The possibility of activating “humanitarian corridors” in cases of emergency was raised in the first instance in the framework of a UN General Assembly in 1990, explains the Dictionary of humanitarian action and development cooperation of the University of the Basque Country. A resolution of the assembly on humanitarian assistance in emergencies proposed that “relief corridors” could be created to distribute food and medical aid, and that these be established in a “concerted” manner between the affected governments and the organizations involved in each case.
Two years later, the university reports, the San Remo Humanitarian Law Institute prepared a report on the principles of humanitarian assistance in which it indicates that it can travel through humanitarian corridors “which must be respected and protected by the competent authorities of the parties concerned and, if necessary, under the authority of the United Nations”.
Not all humanitarian corridors work the same
According to the specific function they fulfill, at least three types of humanitarian corridors can be distinguished: to circulate humanitarian aid, to evacuate people who are in danger or “to return, to favor the repatriation of refugees and displaced people,” explains the University of the Basque Country.
And, depending on the means used, they can be land, air or sea.
There are examples of humanitarian corridors in contexts very different from the current war in Ukraine, but which always have the objective of facilitating assistance in the context of emergencies. One case, for example, is that enabled Venezuela in 2005after closing a border and establishing a state of emergency, so that Venezuelans who were studying in Colombia could travel and attend classes in the neighboring country.
The limits of the corridors
There are five limits of humanitarian corridors, according to the University of the Basque Country: time, space, object, limits in the exercise and the so-called limits deontological.
In terms of time and space, the corridor ensures transit without danger and “as far as possible, the route that gives the most direct access to the place of destination must be established.” The object refers to defining what for, while the limits on the exercise imply that “the use of humanitarian corridors must not threaten the peace, order or security of the State in which they are established.”
Regarding the ethical limit (related to the ethics of a professional activity), it can be understood as respecting impartiality and preventing aid from being diverted, according to this classification.
More than a million refugees have fled Ukraine
Russian bombardments in residential areas have led to more than a million Ukrainians to flee their country since the beginning of the invasion, according to UN figures.
The UN Refugee Agency said this week that what is happening in Ukraine could “turn into ‘Europe’s biggest refugee crisis of this century’.