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AJP-3.26

AJP-3.26 Allied joint doctrine for the military contribution to humanitarian assistance

NATO commanders and staffs planning and conducting a military contribution to humanitarian assistance, alongside the UN and non-governmental relief organisations they coordinate with

AJP-3.26 is NATO's doctrine for planning and conducting a military contribution to humanitarian assistance; nations record their agreement to use it in STANAG 2576, and it binds NATO's chain of command, not companies.

Edition
A
Published
2022-10

What it is

AJP-3.26 is the Allied Joint Doctrine for the Military Contribution to Humanitarian Assistance (HA). It is written for NATO commanders and staffs, and says so directly: "AJP-3.26 is intended primarily as guidance for NATO commanders and staffs." Humanitarian assistance itself is defined in NATO's own agreed terms as "the use of available military resources to assist or complement the efforts of responsible civil actors in the operational area or specialized civil humanitarian organizations in fulfilling their primary responsibility to alleviate human suffering." The doctrine covers a military contribution mounted as its own operation or as a task inside a wider ongoing one.

This is Edition A, version 1, promulgated 11 October 2022 and approved "by the nations in the Military Committee Joint Standardization Board." It is a complete rewrite rather than an update: it "supersedes AJP-3.4.3, Edition A, version 1, which shall be destroyed in accordance with local procedures for the destruction of documents," and its own summary of changes describes an expanded and restructured document across all three chapters.

Who it binds, and how

AJP-3.26 does not bind a company. Nations record their agreement to use it in STANAG 2576 - "the agreement of nations to use this publication is recorded in STANAG 2576" - and it "is subordinated to AJP-01, Allied Joint Doctrine and AJP-3, Allied Joint Doctrine for the Conduct of Operations," sitting inside NATO's own command architecture rather than any national civilian regulatory system. The document adds that "the doctrine is instructive to, and provides a useful framework for, operations conducted by a coalition of NATO members, partners and non-NATO participants," and that sharing it with a non-NATO member first needs "an information sharing/release determination by the publisher." Nothing in it creates an obligation a supplier or contractor is assessed against, and no clause names a certification, audit or surveillance scheme.

The humanitarian principles, and where NATO-led forces stand

The doctrine sets out four humanitarian principles - humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence - and is direct about how they apply to a military force: NATO-led forces "are not bound by the four humanitarian principles" but "should attempt to abide by them." It notes this is hardest to sustain where forces are themselves party to a conflict, since a force engaged in combat cannot be perceived as neutral or independent while also providing relief. It also sets out last resort: foreign military assets "should be requested only where there is no comparable civilian alternative and only the use of military assets can meet a critical humanitarian need," a test that does not apply where host-nation forces are themselves the first responders.

Military activities in support of humanitarian assistance

Chapter 2 works through the specific activities a military contribution can involve. Disaster relief is "the organized response to render assistance to those affected by a disaster," a national responsibility first, with NATO forces requested once the civilian relief community is overwhelmed. Support to civilians covers refugees, returnees, stateless people, internally displaced persons and asylum-seekers - the document is careful to note that "IDPs legally remain under the protection of their own government - even though that government might be the cause of their flight." Technical assistance and support spans logistics, military engineering, communications and mine clearance. Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear consequence management is defined as "measures taken under a CBRN environment to mitigate the damage, loss, hardship and suffering caused by catastrophes, disasters or hostile actions." Recovery operations are explicitly distinguished from the recovery of personnel in a hostile environment, which sits in AJP-3.7 instead. On providing security, the document is candid that "even in a permissive environment, NATO-led forces can expect to encounter banditry, vandalism, looting and various levels of violent activities." Public security and police support runs through Stability Policing, "well suited to support the establishment and maintenance of a safe and secure environment, filling the security gap in support to HA."

Planning considerations

Chapter 3 is the most operational part of the document, working clause by clause through command and control (noting that "in HA operations it is rare for the military to be the lead organization or agency"), military engineering, transportation support (air transport, including airdrop, is "among the most responsive elements"), medical support (every initial assessment needs "a team of suitably qualified and experienced medical representatives, led by a senior military doctor/clinician"), legal considerations, communications and frequency management, logistic sustainment, force protection, and a set of eight cross-cutting topics: protection of civilians, children and armed conflict, cultural property protection, women peace and security, conflict-related sexual violence, trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation and abuse, and building integrity. On legal considerations, the document corrects an assumption a reader might otherwise make: NATO-led forces operating in non-NATO states "are not exempted from HN jurisdiction unless otherwise provided for in appropriate legal instruments" - host-nation law is the default, not an exemption. On data protection, it is equally careful: the relevant law "does not prohibit the collection and sharing of personal data, but rather provides the framework in which personal data can be used in the knowledge and confidence that individuals' right to privacy is respected."

Working with the humanitarian system

A large part of the document explains how the military relates to the civilian actors who lead humanitarian response. OCHA coordinates the international system and leads the cluster approach, which groups humanitarian organisations by sector under agreed leadership. The document is explicit that "it is essential that humanitarian organizations retain independence of action to preserve the impartiality of their work," and equally that "humanitarian agencies must avoid becoming dependent on resources or support provided by the military." Three annexes give this substance: Annex A covers NATO's own Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre and Response Unit; Annex B covers the UN's relief architecture (OCHA, UN-CMCoord, UNDAC, INSARAG, UNHCR, UNICEF, FAO, UNDP, UNEP, WFP and WHO); and Annex C covers the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the International Organization for Migration, the EU's ECHO directorate, the Sphere Project's minimum standards, and the Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative.

Getting the document

AJP-3.26 is unclassified ("NON CLASSIFIED") and free of charge, like all NATO standardization documents. NATO's Standardization Document Database lists the current edition; we do not host a copy or sell it.

How we help

AJP-3.26 is doctrine written for NATO commanders and staffs, not for a company, and it creates no requirement a supplier is assessed against. There is no certification scheme for it and no compliance programme to build around it.

Where this touches a ComplyTrain customer is narrow and indirect: an organisation contracted into a NATO-led humanitarian-assistance effort - providing, for example, the contracted civil engineering or contractor support to operations the document itself names as sources of support - can hold the procedures, training records and standing operating procedures behind that work in ComplyTrain the same way it holds evidence for any other contractual requirement. ComplyTrain does not plan or conduct a humanitarian operation, decide when military assistance meets the last-resort test, or exercise the legal, medical or engineering judgement this doctrine asks commanders and staffs to make; it holds and evidences the paperwork around the work a contractor does, not the work itself. Which requirements actually touch your organisation's work is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by us. See what else sits alongside AJP-3.26 in the standards explorer, and talk to us about the documentation trail behind the work you do around it.

Standards it references

Questions

Is AJP-3.26 mandatory for a company?

No. AJP-3.26 addresses NATO commanders and staffs, not companies or suppliers. It binds through STANAG 2576, which nations ratify; a company only encounters it indirectly, through a contract that puts it alongside a NATO-led force already conducting a humanitarian-assistance mission.

Is there a certification for AJP-3.26?

No. The document names no certification body, accreditation scheme or government-surveillance regime. It is doctrine for NATO's own chain of command, and the nearest thing to internal review it points to is NATO's lessons-learned process, not an external audit of a company.

What does AJP-3.26 replace?

It "supersedes AJP-3.4.3, Edition A, version 1, which shall be destroyed in accordance with local procedures for the destruction of documents." The document's own summary of changes describes it as a complete rewrite rather than an update, restructured and expanded across all three chapters.

Are NATO-led forces bound by the humanitarian principles?

Not formally. The document states plainly that NATO-led forces "are not bound by the four humanitarian principles" - humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence - but "they should attempt to abide by them", while noting this is hardest where a force is itself party to a conflict.

How does AJP-3.26 relate to STANAG 2576?

STANAG 2576 is the agreement NATO nations ratify to use this publication: "the agreement of nations to use this publication is recorded in STANAG 2576." AJP-3.26 is the doctrine that agreement covers.