Dignity and privacy

Assistance is a right, not charity. The difference shows in small details far more than in policies.

This is the heart of the Core Humanitarian Standard: a person receiving assistance holds a right, not a favour. In practice that means they are asked rather than assumed about, told the eligibility criteria rather than left to guess, and able to complain without fearing for their assistance.

✔ Keeps dignity intact

Asking a family where they would rather receive their parcel
Explaining why one household qualified and another did not
Calling people by their names, not their numbers
Waiting to be invited before entering a room
Speaking to a person rather than about them in front of them

✘ Damages it

Photographing the queue because the image is "powerful"
Discussing one family’s circumstances in front of another
Referring to people as "cases" within their hearing
Distributing in public view when there is no need to
Promising future help you are not certain of

Privacy is part of dignity. A person’s name, health situation, household size and address belong to them; you are entrusted with that information, not an owner of it. It is shared only with someone who needs it to do their job — not with a curious colleague, not in a WhatsApp group, not in a post.

Field scenario

What is the right response?

During a distribution, a woman asks you why her neighbour received a parcel and she did not. The answer is that this round’s criteria cover households with a child under five.