On March 5, humanitarian aid convoys reached the besieged eastern Ghouta region of Syria for the first time in weeks. Their access proved to be highly limited and short-lived as intense airstrikes and shelling resumed on the rebel-held enclave.

Among the humanitarian organizations striving to reach communities cut off from basic health and social services by brutal shelling, was the International Committee of the Red Cross. While the convoy was still on its return voyage from eastern Ghouta — and before aid workers were able to report back on the many limitations and desperate situation they had encountered — Devex spoke with Yves Daccord, the ICRC’s director-general.

“As long as what you create is a dynamic, which forces the different stakeholders to integrate the notion of humanitarian actions, that's the worthwhile element. And our experience in Syria is, you have to push, you have to go, you have to negotiate on a daily basis — constantly, constantly until it happens.”

Daccord, in Washington to participate in the World Bank’s “Fragility Forum,” explained why the ICRC will always take advantage of opportunities to gain humanitarian access to vulnerable people — even when the terms of that access might be deeply frustrating and restricted. He also shared what the Syrian conflict has revealed about the future of humanitarian relief — and how broader issues of state-to-state politics challenge humanitarian principles.

Read more about humanitarian aid by Michael Igoe at Devex