Humanitarian aid – how do we help?

Humanitarian aid is designed to help people in dire need as a result of natural disasters, epidemics, armed conflict or internal unrest.

The German Government funds appropriate relief projects run by UN humanitarian organizations, German NGOs and organizations of the Red Cross/Crescent Movement. The Federal Foreign Office is the lead ministry for this task.

The Government’s key principle here is that humanitarian aid must be geared to the requirements of the emergency and nothing else. The German Government is committed here to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.

Human, neutral, impartial and independent

The principle of humanity means human suffering must be alleviated wherever it occurs. Attention focuses particularly on the most vulnerable population groups. The dignity of all victims must be preserved and protected.

Neutrality means that humanitarian aid is conducted without giving preferential treatment to either side in an armed conflict or other controversies.

Impartiality means that humanitarian aid is granted purely based on need – without discriminating between population groups.

The principle of independence means that humanitarian goals must not be subordinate to political, economic, military or other aims. The sole purpose of humanitarian aid must be to prevent or alleviate the suffering of victims of humanitarian crises.

Relief and prevention

The Federal Foreign Office funds humanitarian emergency aid, in particular help for refugees and internally displaced persons. It also promotes disaster reduction measures which can help minimize the impact of natural disasters, alleviate human suffering and reduce material damage.

In contrast, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development provides more development-oriented emergency and transitional aid, the type of assistance that follows on from emergency aid to deal with humanitarian crises. This is designed to bridge the gap until longer-term development cooperation begins or to pave the way for such cooperation.

Large number of beneficiaries

In 2009 the Federal Foreign Office will spend 123 million euro around the world to deal with humanitarian crises. In 2009, humanitarian aid focuses above all on Somalia, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sudan. The Federal Foreign Office plans to provide support of up to 16,5 million euro for humanitarian mine clearance in 2009.This is in addition to voluntary contributions to the budget of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).