Dealing with the military - a double edged sword for NGOs

On one hand, we need a secure environment in which to work and to be able to deliver food, water, shelter and care without the risk of being shot, blown up or kidnapped.

But to work effectively and genuinely help Iraqis rebuild their lives and communities, we need to be impartial. A neutral presence free from the taint of any political or military objective.

We've previously delivered relief working alongside peacekeeping and occupying military forces who ensured our safety, but this conflict is posing problems that we haven't really had to face before.

Humanitarian assistance was closely linked to military objectives for the first time in Afghanistan.

There planeloads of bombs were followed by planeloads of relief supplies. From a practical standpoint alone this was not very effective, with food falling into inaccessible and in some cases mined land. The supplies would undoubtedly have reached more people who needed them if the program had incorporated aid expertise.

But a key difference between Afghanistan and this conflict is the different political backdrop. Then the world was still reeling from the events of September 11 and there was less international debate over the military action in Aghanistan.

Now in Iraq, there are attempts to align humanitarian assistance even more closely to military strategy and political objectives.

Some agencies have already vowed not to work in cooperation with the military and will work only under a UN mandate, yet others believe the humanitarian imperative outweighs the concerns over who ends up administering Iraq.

We believe there are two immediate imperatives in addressing the humanitarian situation in Iraq.

The first is for aid agencies to be allowed in to deliver emergency relief. For this, we need the military to focus on establishing law and order as quickly as possible. We need them to clear the ground of landmines and unexploded ordnance.

This will give us the physical security to get on with our job.

The second need is "safe humanitarian space" so agencies fulfilling their tasks do not themselves contribute to further conflict - even unintentionally.