This report uses the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid (adopted in 2007) as a policy framework to examine adherence to humanitarian principles particularly on the part of European Union member states. We hope that this report provides a useful contribution to on-going debates around the humanitarian principles and will encourage Caritas organisations to renew their efforts to promote and defend these principles in the course of their humanitarian response work as well as in policy and advocacy discussions with humanitarian donors and European Union Member States.
The research was commissioned by 8 member organisations (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, England & Wales, France, Germany, Ireland, and Spain) of Caritas Europa, the umbrella of the European network of 48 Caritas organisations, working in solidarity with partners in both humanitarian and development programmes throughout the world. It was researched and written by Andy Featherstone, an independent consultant