Humanitarian Aid (HA)

Humanitarian Assistance

Based on international humanitarian principles and as set out in the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid, the EU provides needs-based humanitarian assistance to the people hit by man-made and natural disasters with particular attention to the most vulnerable victims.

The principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence are fundamental to humanitarian action:

• humanity means that human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found, with particular attention to the most vulnerable;
   
• neutrality means that humanitarian aid must not favour any side in an armed conflict or other dispute;
   
• impartiality means that humanitarian aid must be provided solely on the basis of need, without discrimination;
   
• independence means the autonomy of humanitarian objectives from political, economic, military or other objectives.

Aid is channelled impartially to the affected populations, regardless of their race, ethnic group, religion, gender, age, nationality or political affiliation.

The European Commission has been providing humanitarian aid since 1992 in over 110 countries, reaching millions of people across the globe each year. 

The humanitarian assistance funded by the EU is delivered in partnership with United Nations (UN) agencies, international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). EU humanitarian aid covers intervention areas such as: food and nutrition, shelter, healthcare, water and sanitation and education in emergencies. A large network of Commission's humanitarian experts in over forty countries worldwide enables close monitoring of crisis situations and relief operations.

The funding for humanitarian aid operations is intended for countries outside of the EU. The European Commission can also fund emergency support operations to respond to disasters of exceptional scale within the EU.

EU funded humanitarian assistance is implemented through humanitarian organisations. These are European NGOs, UN agencies and international organisations.