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Additions made to Humanitarian aid:

Delivery of Humanitarian Aid [addition to the section called "Delivery of Humanitarian Aid"]

It is important to note that humanitarian aid is not only delivered through aid workers sent by bilateral, multilateral or intergovernmental organizations, such as the United Nations. Actors like the affected people themselves, civil society, local informal first-responders, civil society, the diaspora, businesses, local governments, military, local and international non-governmental organizations all play a crucial role in a timely delivery of humanitarian aid.

Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability [added to "Standards" section]

Logo of the Core Humanitarian Standard

Another humanitarian standard used is the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS). It was approved by the CHS Technical Advisory Group in 2014, and has since been endorsed by many humanitarian actors such as "the Boards of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP), People In Aid and the Sphere Project". It is comprised of 9 core standards, which are complemented by detailed guidance notes and indicators.

While some critics were questioning whether the sector will truly benefit from the implementation of yet another humanitarian standard, others have praised it for its simplicity. Most notably, it has replaced the core standards of the Sphere Handbook and it is regularly referred to and supported by officials from the United Nations, the EU, various NGOs and institutes.

Challenges in terminology [new section]

The terms humanitarian action, humanitarian aid, humanitarian assistance and humanitarian response are often used interchangeably in publications, common literature and in the news, and there seems to be no common understanding of either of these terms. In 2003, in an attempt to provide more clarity globally, 17 nations and various other players in the international field founded The Good Humanitarian Donorship Initiative (GHDI), which states that "the objectives of humanitarian action are to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain and protect human dignity during and in the aftermath of emergencies”.

Following this, in 2008 the UNOCHA website Relief Web published a Glossary of Humanitarian Terms, which provides a collection of definitions available in other publicly available material. This glossary cites the ALNAP definition of humanitarian action as the "assistance, protection and advocacy actions undertaken on an impartial basis in response to human needs resulting from complex political emergencies and natural hazards." However, since the glossary is not a common terminologcial framework provided by the United Nations but a collection of material from secondary sources, it can serve as an important reference point but does not solve the need for a common terminology in this field.

The lack of a common terminology may create difficulties in properly defining, allocating and tracking humanitarian action, and makes it hard for intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations or the International Red Cross Red Crescent movement to share comparable data with each other. This is particularly relevant as the lines between humanitarian and development action become increasingly blurred due to changes such as the growing emergence of protracted crises, which call for a different approach of humanitarian aid overall.

An initiative aware of this terminological challenge is the Humanitarian Encyclopedia, which aims to "collectively interrogate how humanitarian concepts are used across time, geographical contexts, organizational cultures, disciplinary backgrounds and professions". While this does not mean that a common terminology will be created, it has the potential to serve as a reference point for humanitarian actors and the general public.