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AbstractIn recent years, Qatar has emerged as a key actor in humanitarian diplomacy (HD), which has received limited academic attention. This paper provides an analysis of Qatar’s engagement with HD, drawing on a literature review and extensive interviews with officials and humanitarian workers in Qatar, observations of state activities and humanitarian agencies, and personal interviews with international humanitarian aid workers. The study reveals Qatar’s unique strategy, characterised by its diplomatic stance and the integrated efforts of its governmental and non-governmental sectors, as foundational to its HD efforts. The study also reports challenges hindering those efforts, namely the impacts of the political tensions, the lack of diplomatic immunity for humanitarian workers, and a scarcity of specialised expertise in HD. These are explored in terms of their implications for the effectiveness of Qatar’s efforts, emphasising the critical need for enhanced supportive frameworks, targeted capacity-building initiatives, and well-defined protocols for HD engagement. To add to the dialogue on HD, this paper reflects on Qatar’s engagement in HD, suggesting that smaller nations can meaningfully contribute when leveraging their strengths and international relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to document Qatar's recent contribution of humanitarian, development, and peace-related efforts to the Sudanese in Darfur. It delves deeply into Qatar's involvement in Darfur by tracing the flow of foreign assistance provided between 2011 and 2018, while analysing the relevant mediation efforts to settle the conflict in the region. The paper calls for adopting the Triple Nexus approach – or humanitarian development-peace nexus in dealing with Qatar's role as a third party in Darfur both as a donor and mediator. Contextualising Qatar's role in this context necessitates considering its foreign assistance and peace-related efforts in conflict-affected contexts and its positioning in relation to the Triple Nexus. While Qatar has not publicly committed itself to the Triple Nexus reforms directed to OECD-DAC donor countries, the paper argues that adopting the Triple Nexus approach might develop the prevailing humanitarian and development and peace-related assistance practices in Qatar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]