From humanitarian diplomacy to advocacy: a research agenda

In the humanitarian domain, advocacy has mainly been associated with activities of humanitarian actors on behalf of populations in need. While the emergence of humanitarianism was related to large advocacy movements, it has lately become associated with humanitarian diplomacy that is grounded in international humanitarian law and aims to maximise support for operations and programs towards humanitarian objectives. This chapter seeks to broaden and revitalize the concept of humanitarian advocacy as the activities of affected communities and their advocates to articulate, advance, and protect their rights (i.e., entitlements to assistance and citizenship rights more broadly), needs, views, and interests'. The chapter proposes an agenda for research and argues that we need to reimagine humanitarian advocacy, in line with current changes in humanitarian action, and open to discover the meaning of advocacy in a bottom-up manner by exploring actors, political contacts, strategies, scope, and aims.