This article examines the role of international humanitarian law (ihl) and humanitarian principles in the discourse of humanitarian negotiation. The article is based on extensive, semi-structured interviews conducted with 53 humanitarian practitioners about their experiences engaging in negotiations in the field. The article proceeds in four parts. Part 1 discusses two key factors at play during humanitarian negotiation processes. The first factor is the counterpart’s familiarity with relevant legal and normative frameworks. The second factor is the interests that can drive counterparts’ behavior. Part 2 presents a framework for understanding how the interaction of these two factors – familiarity and interest-alignment – can shape the discourse of humanitarian negotiation. Part 3 addresses the impact of these same issues on the humanitarian side of the negotiation. In particular, there is the possibility that humanitarian actors themselves might also lack familiarity with ihl and/or humanitarian principles and might find that their interests exist in tension with humanitarian laws and principles. The final section offers concluding remarks.

本文探讨了国际人道主义法的作用（IHL）和人道主义原则中的人道主义原则。本文基于对53名人道主义从业人员进行的广泛，半结构化访谈，介绍了他们参与该领域谈判的经验。本文分为四个部分。第1部分讨论了人道主义谈判过程中起作用的两个关键因素。第一个因素是对方对相关法律和规范框架的熟悉程度。第二个因素是可以驱动同行行为的利益。第2部分提供了一个框架，用于了解这两个因素（熟悉程度和利益一致）的相互作用如何影响人道谈判的话语。第三部分讨论了这些相同问题对谈判的人道主义方面的影响。特别是，ihl和/或人道主义原则，并可能发现他们的利益与人道主义法律和原则存在张力。最后一部分提供结论。