Frontline Responders & Witnesses: Collateral Damage of Banned Access

This event will explore the realities and challenges of three sectors working at the frontline of humanitarian crises and conflicts: journalism, humanitarian action, and field research.

Across today's humanitarian crises, access to conflict zones is increasingly restricted or entirely denied. In places such as Gaza and Sudan, blockades, insecurity, and political constraints have profoundly transformed the work of humanitarian organisations, journalists, and researchers, while placing ever greater responsibility on local actors who are often the only ones able to respond, document events, and bear witness.

This public conference brings together leading humanitarian practitioners, journalists, and scholars to examine how restricted access is reshaping the production of knowledge, humanitarian response, and international accountability. Through a series of conversations drawing on experiences from conflict settings, speakers will explore the consequences of denied access for affected populations, the evolving relationship between international and local responders, and the legal and ethical challenges raised by today's conflicts.

Speakers:

• Nicoletta Antonini, Deputy Head of Delegation and Protection Coordinator for the ICRC Regional Delegation in Paris,
• Rawan Damen, Director General of ARIJ (Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism),
• Dr. Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert, Associate Researcher at CERI (Sciences Po) and PRIO (Peace Research Institute Oslo),
• Dr. J.C. Salyer, Professor of Anthropology and Law at Barnard College,
• Virginie Troit, Executive Director of the Fondation Croix-Rouge française,
• Adel Zaanoun, Head of Agence France-Presse (AFP)’s bureau in Gaza.

This unique event is co-organised by Sciences Po's Centre for Global Security and Governance (CGSG) and Center for International Studies(CERI) with the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Columbia Global Amman Center, the French Red Cross Foundation,  and the Groupe de Recherche sur l’Action Multilatérale (GRAM), with the support of the Alliance Program.

It will take place in the Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc at Reid Hall, 4 rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris.