Humanitarian aid

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Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity. It may therefore be distinguished from development aid, which seeks to address the underlying socioeconomic factors which may have led to a crisis or emergency.

Humanitarian response

Humanitarian aid is delivered by governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other non-governmental humanitarian agencies according to humanitarian principles set out in Resolution 46/182^[1] of the United Nations General Assembly (for governments and UN agencies), and in Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief (for NGHAs).

Funding

They are funded by donations from individuals, corporations, governments and other organizations. The funding and delivery of humanitarian aid is increasingly being organized at an international level to facilitate faster and more effective responses to major emergencies affecting large numbers of people (eg. see Central Emergency Response Fund). The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) coordinates the international humanitarian response to a crisis or emergency pursuant to Resolution 46/182 of the United Nations General Assembly.

Standards

The Sphere Project handbook, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response, which was produced by a coalition of leading non governmental humanitarian agencies, lists the following principles of humanitarian action:

• The right to life with dignity
• The distinction between combatant and non-combatants
• The principle of non-refoulement

The Quality Project, based on the Quality Compass, is an alternative project to Sphere, taking into account the side effects of standardization and those of an appraoch based on "minima" rather than the pursuit of quality. This project is leaded by Groupe URD.

Safety

Every organization participating of humanitarian aid operations, has its own particular rules, regulations and preventive plans of action for keeping their aid workers as safe as possible. Nevertheless, the dangers and threats inherent to these kind of operations have always existed and are not easy to minimize as each field of operation is unique. Even in areas with relative calm and tranquility, violence can suddenly appear.^[2]

Notes

References

• Larry Minear (2002). The Humanitarian Enterprise: Dilemmas and Discoveries. West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press. ISBN 1-56549-149-1. 
• Waters, Tony (2001). Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan: The Limitations of Humanitarian Relief Operations. Boulder: Westview Press.

See also

• Attacks on humanitarian workers
• Timeline of events in humanitarian relief and development
• [Humanitarian People http://www.humanitarianpeople.org]

Organisations

• Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF (Doctors Without Borders)
• Mercy Corps
• AmeriCares
• CARE
• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

Organisation types

• Foundation
• Community service
• Non-profit organizations
• Non-governmental organizations

External links

• Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
• UN ReliefWeb
• AlertNet
• IRIN
• The ODI Humanitarian Policy Group
• The Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine (CDHAM)

Critiques of Humanitarian Aid

• A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis interview with David Rieff and Joanne Myers
• Journal of Humanitarian Assistance Sean Greenaway: Post-Modern Conflict and Humanitarian Action: Questioning the Paradigmde:Humanitäre Hilfe

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