14 April 2011: The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has launched the revised edition of the UN-backed publication titled, “The Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response.” The handbook is produced by the Sphere Project, a consortium of humanitarian agencies.

The handbook aims to provide a set of standards for humanitarian response and to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance to survivors of disasters and conflicts. The revised publication includes a chapter on protection principles and information on emerging issues such as climate change, civil-military relations, disaster risk reduction, early recovery of services and livelihoods, and cash transfers. It places high priority on understanding and supporting local responses to disasters as well as reinforcing the capacity of local actors.

The handbook was originally published in 1998 and since then it has been translated into more than 40 languages. [UN News Release] [Publication: The Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response]