DARA’S COMMITMENT
HUMANITARIAN ACTION
DARA’s commitment to humanitarian action is to promote responses that adapt effectively to the needs of the most affected communities by conflict and natural hazards.
DARA’s work in the humanitarian field follows the HUMANITARIAN AID PRINCIPLES
1. The humanitarian imperative:
Human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found, with particular attention to the most vulnerable in the population, such as women, children, the elderly and the displaced. The dignity and rights of all those in need of humanitarian assistance must be respected and protected. The humanitarian imperative implies a right to offer and receive humanitarian assistance. Occasionally, authorities deny humanitarian access to civilian populations for political or security reasons. Nevertheless, humanitarian agencies must maintain their ability to gain constant access to all vulnerable populations and negotiate this access with all parties to the conflict.
2. Neutrality:
The appropriate practice of humanitarian work requires maintaining the trust of all parties to the conflict. For this reason, humanitarian action should not support any of the parties or participate in any controversy based on political, racial, or religious identity or ideology. Transparency and openness are essential to maintaining neutrality. For an organization that has adopted a rights-based approach, neutrality must not become an obstacle to confronting human rights violations, and certainly does not justify condoning impunity or turning a blind eye to egregious human rights abuses. Neither does it negate the need for some form of action, whether through strategic advocacy, simple presence, political demarches, or local negotiations.
Neutrality also requires humanitarian actors to be clear about the specific and limited circumstances in which military assets can be used: 1) only as a last resort (when there is no comparable civilian alternative); 2) the entire operation must remain under the overall authority and control of the humanitarian organisation in charge of operations; 3) any use of military assets should be clearly limited in time and scale and 4) military and civil defence assets of belligerent forces should never be used to support humanitarian activities.
3. Impartiality:
Non-legal impartiality means serving people or making decisions about people based only on their needs, without considering their nationality, race, religious beliefs, social class or political opinions.
Aid is provided to all those who are suffering; the guiding principle is only their need and the corresponding right. Human rights are the foundation and framework for the assessment of needs. This principle includes the idea that aid should be distributed in proportion to need (when resources are not sufficient, priority is always given to those most affected) and without discrimination - no one should be discriminated against based on their sex, age, ethnicity, identity, etc. It is the state’s responsibility to ensure that aid is distributed impartially.
4. Accountability:
Humanitarian actors should be accountable to those they assist, as well as to those who provide them with resources. All dealings with donors and beneficiaries should reflect an attitude of openness and transparency, recognising the need to report on activities, regarding both finances and effectiveness.
Accountability involves three dimensions: processes through which individuals, organisations and states make decisions that affect others; mechanisms through which individuals, organisations and states seek to explain their decisions and actions; processes through which individuals, organisations and states raise awareness of and concern for the consequences of the decisions and actions of others.
There are four stakeholders in the provision of aid assistance: 1) the beneficiary community; 2) the national/local authority; 3) the donor and 4) the aid agency. In this relationship, international aid agencies must hold themselves accountable to the beneficiary communities - to meet their needs for assistance and protection with dignity - and to the donors - to provide assistance for the proposed purpose. For this reason, coordination among organisations is a vital part of this principle. National/local authorities must be accountable for the protection, safety and well-being of populations living in areas they claim to control.
5. Participation of affected populations, in particular women and children:
Humanitarian action tends to be more focused on the needs of the beneficiary community. It should offer sustainable aid that ensures the rights of the affected communities to participate in decisions that affect their lives. However, it is important to build the capacities of the affected community, and promote the participation of the beneficiaries in all interventions.
6. Respect for culture and custom:
In order to relate local values to internationally recognised human rights, it is important to be aware of local customs and traditions. Despite the variation among local cultures and customs, human rights are universal, applicable to all human beings, and must be paramount. However, some interventions require particular sensitivity to local customs.