Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability
[1] The CHS was launched on 12 December 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark[2] as the result of a global consultation process involving 2,000 humanitarian and development practitioners.The revision process led to the 2024 edition of the CHS, which is more people-centred with a simplified structure and clearer language, promoting accessibility to a diverse range of actors supporting people in crisis situations.Some of the notable statements of support are from the European Union, UNDP, UNIDO, International Committee of the Red Cross, Oxfam and from the governments of Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.Furthermore, it has been featured in key documents such as the Commitments on Accountability to Affected People and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CAAP) by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), and the first annual synthesis report published by UNOCHA since the World Humanitarian Summit and entitled ‘No Time to Retreat’ (2017).Case studies and best practices show that complying with the CHS indeed increases the overall effectiveness and quality of the work of humanitarian and development organisations.For example, putting emphasis on training (Commitment 7, 8) helps to improve the quality and speed of surge response,[11] improving the way of engagement with communities (Commitment 4) helps to obtain quality information and thus a true understanding of people’s realities,[12] and in general, the CHS contributes to making organisations more transparent[13] and to addressing sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA).