Humanitarian aid (HA) is the fast, immediate response to acute disaster situations and aims at eliminating or alleviating their repercussions. Without international humanitarian aid, natural disasters and wars would claim even more victims. The provision of fast and efficient help has therefore become an important task of governments and aid organizations.

HA can be bilateral or multilateral, but it is always for the benefit of the directly affected population. Therefore HA must come up to high quality standards, adjust to the needs of the victims and be politically independent.

Humanitarian intervention
A humanitarian intervention (HI) is a military operation that intervenes in the sovereignty of a state. Such an operation is carried out to protect people involved in a humanitarian emergency situation if the responsible state is not able or willing to provide adequate protection.

Prevention and sustainability
In humanitarian aid it is not sufficient anymore to deal with the consequences of emergencies. Research has shown that financial investment in long-term measures such as prevention and early warning systems paid off in case of catastrophes. Disaster prevention has therefore become indispensable for sustainable development strategies. In future, humanitarian aid and early warning systems will have to play a more prominent role in the context of preventive strategies.