AJAHF Our Humanitarian Standard
- Category: Access to Justice, Advocacy & Humanitarian Intervention Foundation (AJAHF)
- Date 05-09-2017
The primary motivation of our humanitarian interventions is to save lives, alleviate human suffering and to support the right to life with dignity. The principles governing our provision of humanitarian assistance are grounded in our humanitarian operations. These principles were endorsed by the 194 States Parties to the Geneva Conventions who are also Parties to the Statutes of the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement. They were also recognized by the UN General Assembly (Resolutions 46/182 of 19 December 1991 and 58/114 of 17 December 2003). These principles have also been incorporated into voluntary codes of conduct and organizational mission statements guiding humanitarian agencies and donors, such as The Code of Conduct of the International Red Cross Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations in Disaster Relief (1994). AJAHF humanitarian interventions are guided by these four widely accepted principles:
- Humanity: Human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found. The purpose of humanitarian action is to protect life and health and ensure respect for human beings.
- Impartiality: Humanitarian action must be carried out on the basis of need alone, giving priority to the most urgent cases of distress and making no adverse distinction on the basis of nationality, race, gender, religious belief, class or political opinion.
- Independence: Humanitarian action must be autonomous from the political, economic, military or other objectives that any actor may hold with regard to areas where humanitarian action is being implemented.
- Neutrality: Humanitarian actors must not take sides in hostilities or engage in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.
Finally AJAHF engages the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) on Quality and Accountability which sets out nine commitments that organisations and individuals involved in humanitarian response are encouraged to use to improve the quality and effectiveness of the assistance they provide, figure 1.0.
Fig 1.0. The Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS)
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Engaging CHS also facilitates greater accountability to people affected by crisis. The CHS places communities and people affected by crisis at the centre of humanitarian action and promotes respect for their fundamental human rights. It is underpinned by the right to life with dignity, and the right to protection and security as set forth in international law, including within the International Bill of Human Rights. We voluntarily adopted, CHS as it describes the essential elements of principled, high-quality and accountable humanitarian intervention.