Values and professional standards

Given the complexity of situations encountered in relief work today and the increase in the size and longevity of the assistance humanitarian programmes agencies are called upon to manage, the International Federation and the ICRC believe that humanitarian agencies need to reassert their basic values sets. For the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, neutrality, impartiality and independence are vital prerequisites for effective protection and assistance. The Movement believes that in situations where violence, political tension and economic collapse predominate, humanitarian agencies have a duty to ensure that their practice allows them to deliver assistance to those who need it most, where they need it most and when they need it most.

For some agencies this presents a considerable challenge. Development agencies working in disasters discover that their development agenda and methodology no longer provide the guidance needed to cope with conflict. Agencies driven by a justice agenda and denouncing violations of the law discover that their policies make it difficult for them to consistently and continually deliver assistance on the basis of needs alone across a conflict area.

Humanitarian agencies also need to practise to a consistently high professional standard if they are to deliver effective protection and assistance in today's emergencies. The ICRC and the International Federation are committed to increasing the professionalism of their disaster response, through advocacy for the newly-established global Code of Conduct for relief workers and through research, training and evaluation.