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Humanitarian aid arriving by C-130 Hercules at Rinas Airport in Albania in the summer of 2000. Many organizations engaged in assisting refugees fleeing Kosovo.

U.S. Army Sgt. Kornelia Rachwal gives a young Pakistani girl a drink of water as they are airlifted from Muzaffarabad to Islamabad, Pakistan, aboard a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter on 19 October 2005.

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.

According to a London-based research establishment, whose findings were released in April 2009, the most lethal year in the history of humanitarianism was 2008, in which 122 aid workers were murdered and 260 assaulted. Those countries deemed least safe were Somalia and Afghanistan.

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

Working with its partners, disaster survivors, and others, Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International (or HAP International) produced the HAP 2007 Standard in Humanitarian Accountability and Quality Management. This certification scheme aims to provide assurance that certified agencies are managing the quality of their humanitarian actions in accordance with the HAP standard.^[1] In practical terms, a HAP certification (which is valid for three years) means providing external auditors with access to the organization’s mission statement, accounts and control systems, providing for greater transparency in operations and overall accountability.^[2][3]

As described by HAP-International, the HAP 2007 Standard in Humanitarian Accountability and Quality Management is a quality assurance tool for humanitarian organizations. By comparing an organization's processes, policies and products to the Standard's six benchmarks, it is possible to measure how well the organization assures quality and accountability in its humanitarian work. Agencies that comply with the Standard:

• declare their commitment to HAP's Principles of Humanitarian Action and to their own Humanitarian Accountability Framework
• develop and implement a Humanitarian Quality Management System
• provide key information about quality management to key stakeholders
• enable beneficiaries and their representatives to participate in program decisions and give their informed consent
• determine the competencies and development needs of staff
• establish and implement complaints-handling procedure
• establish a process of continual improvement^[4]

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 approach based on "minima" rather than the pursuit of quality. This project is led by Groupe URD.

See also

• Attacks on humanitarian workers
• Timeline of events in humanitarian relief and development
• Sadaqah
• Zakat

Organisations

• Global Aid Network
• Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International
• World Vision
• Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF (Doctors Without Borders)
• Mercy Corps
• AmeriCares
• CARE
• Malteser International
• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
• Fundación Logistica Humanitaria

Organisation types

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

Notes

Volunteer Medics Worldwide PVO/NGO a US based organisation has been providing Humanitarian Aid, Medical Supplies,First Responder Trainging and Prevention of Blindness exams and treatment in Afghanistan since the Spring of 2007.

Volunteer Medics Worldwide also trains local Afghan people to recognize and treat minor medical issues leaving a much larger positive footprint in the country.

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.

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)
• Centre for Safety and Development
• EM-DAT: The International Disaster Database
• CE-DAT: The Complex Emergency Database

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 Paradigm