Humanitarian Aid (HA)

Question 1

Origins of Humanitarian aid

Answer 1

The roots of humanitarian aid are linked with Henry Dunant (Swiss businessman and social activist)

• BOOK: “A memory of Solferino” (1862): Testimony of a day-long battle of a Lombard town Solferino (1859). Austrian Empire vs French Empire + Kingdom of Sardinia.

Florence Nightingale: nursing schools for women

Question 2

IRCM

Answer 2

Inspired by his wartime experience, Dunant suggested:

• A permanent and impartial relief agency for HA in times of war →International Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement (1863)
• A Government treaty recognizing the neutrality of the agency and allowing it to provide aid in a war zone

Question 3

IRCM & International Humanitarian Law

Answer 3

Distinction between combatants and civilians:

• No attacks against individual civilians or the civilian population
• The prohibition of attacks on their dwellings & other installations & destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population
• All feasible precautions have to be taken to avoid injury, loss or damage to the civilian population

The prohibition of superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering

The prohibition to kill, injure or capture an adversary by trickery

Respect to & protection of medical & religious personnel & medical units and transports used by civilians should not be the object of military operations.

Question 4

International Humanitarian Law: Geneva Conventions & Rome Statute of the ICC

Answer 4

Geneva Conventions

• 1st Geneva Convention (1864): For the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field
• 2nd Geneva Convention (1907): For (…) Sick & Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea
• 3rd Geneva Convention (1929): Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
• 4th Geneva Convention (1949): Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War

Rome Statute of the ICC (1998)

• Genocide (Art. 6)
• Crimes against humanity (Art 7)
• War Crimes (Art 8)
• Crime of aggression (Art 8 bis)

Question 5

humanitarian principles:

Answer 5

Question 6

humanitarian principles by the ICRC:

Answer 6

Humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality

Question 7

Terminology: Hazard

Answer 7

A potential threat to humans and their welfare:

• Natural hazards
• Technological hazards
• Environmental hazards

Question 8

Terminology: Risk

Answer 8

The likelihood of a specific hazard occurring and its probable consequences for people and property

Question 9

Terminology: Vulnerability

Answer 9

The extent to which a person, group or socio-economic structure is likely to be affected by hazard

Question 10

Terminology: Disaster

Answer 10

What occurs when the impact of a hazard on a section of a society overwhelms that society’s ability to cope

4 criteria:

• 10 or more people are killed
• 100 reported affected
• A call for international assistance
• And/or a declaration of a state emergency

6 main categories:

• Natural, rapid onset
• Technological, rapid onset
• Slow-onset
• Complex political emergencies
• Permanent emergencies
• Mass population displacements