Humanitarian aid
Foreign humanitarian assistance is an integral part of the Czech Republic's foreign policy. Providing of humanitarian assistance financed from the Czech Government Budget is based on the Law on Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, which entered into force in 2010.
According to this law, the humanitarian aid is defined as a set of activities financed from the national budget in order to prevent loss of life and injury, to alleviate suffering and to restore basic living conditions of people after an emergency, as well as to mitigate long-lasting consequences of emergencies and to prevent their occurrence and negative consequences.
The provision of humanitarian assistance is governed by fundamental international humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. The Czech Republic endorsed these principles in 2006, having joined the Good Humanitarian Donorship platform. The Czech Republic co-chaired the Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative together with Denmark in 2012 – 2013.
The Czech Republic appreciates and supports the principal role played by the United Nations in coordination of humanitarian action, respects and supports the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), including its National Societies. As EU member, the Czech Republic takes part in the implementation of the Action Plan to the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid and supports the global humanitarian activities of the European Union.
Every year (at its beginning), the Humanitarian Aid Operation Strategy of the Czech Republic for the respective year is being adopted; its purpose is to provide an overview of the basic aims of Czech humanitarian assistance on the background of global humanitarian needs and international commitments.
