Amidst conflict or natural disasters, affected people’s access to resources and services is essential t to their survival. Humanitarian organizations must typically navigate a complicated geographical and political terrain to reach populations in need and create reliable channels to sustain this access. In our upcoming edition of the Liaison Journal, we will explore the theme of “Humanitarian Access: Challenges and Solutions.” From the complexities of logistics in major disaster settings to the negotiation of specifific mechanisms to facilitate humanitarian aid during armed conflflict, we will explore the multifaceted nature of humanitarian access. Join us as we examine the strategies, achievements, and obstacles encountered in providing life-saving aid to those in need.

The Liaison Journal seeks articles exploring these questions and more.

  • What are the primary differences between humanitarian access in a disaster versus an armed conflict setting? What implications does this have for the role of military forces supporting a humanitarian response?
  • What are the obligations of conflict parties to facilitate life-saving aid during an armed conflict? How does this relate to the roles of humanitarian actors? What lessons can be drawn from past attempts to establish humanitarian corridors and other mechanisms to facilitate humanitarian access?
  • When an earthquake, flood, or other major disaster destroys infrastructure, what kind of capacity do external aid providers need to ensure that they are able to reach affected people and deliver lifesaving assistance and services? What lessons can be drawn from the Haiti earthquake (2010), Puerto Rico hurricane (2017), the Turkey- Syria earthquake (2023) and other major disasters?
  • If future conflicts are characterized, in part, by major and sustained disruptions in the cyber realm, how will this impact basic services and humanitarian action in affected areas? How should humanitarian actors, major donors such as USAID, and military forces prepare to ensure effective support for affected people?

Article Submissions

The Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance invites article submissions for upcoming Liaison journals with regard to civil-military disaster management and humanitarian relief collaborations.

CFE-DM invites original submissions from contributors of all backgrounds within the dmha community that have supported collaborations in assessments, lessons learned, technology, science and applied research, and training and education within the regional cooperation theme.

Liaison is a journal of civil-military disaster management and humanitarian relief collaborations and aims to engage and inform readers on the most current research, collaborations and lessons learned available.

We prefer original submissions, but if your article or paper is being considered for publication elsewhere, please note that with the submission.

Please direct submissions or questions to the editor at cfe.dmha.fct@pacom.mil.

Article Submission Details

Format

All submissions should be emailed to the editor as an unformatted Microsoft Word file with a word count of 2,000 - 8,000. Endnotes are the preferred method of citation, if applicable, and please attach any images within the document as separate files as well.

Provide original research or reporting

Liaison is looking for original work, but previously published articles or papers will be considered if they are relevant to the issue topic.

Clarity

Please avoid technical acronyms and language. the majority of Liaison readers are from Asia-Pacific nations and articles should be addressed to an international audience.

Copyrights or Licenses

All work remains the property of the author or photographer. Submission of an article or photograph implies authorization of publication by liaison magazine.

Supporting Imagery

Original imagery supporting any and all articles is also welcome. Please ensure the images are high-resolution and can be credited to the photographer without license infringement. Images should be attached to the submission separately, not embedded within the Microsoft word document.

Biography and Photo

When submitting an article, please include a short biography and high-resolution photo of yourself for the contributors' section.