The Humanitarian Response Index 2010 report covers donor governments’ response to humanitarian crises during 2009 in 14 countries: Afghanistan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Indonesia, the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

These countries provided a representative sample of the diverse global crises faced in 2010 by the humanitarian community, including sudden-onset disasters, internal and regional conflicts, protracted crises and complex and forgotten emergencies. Together, they received over 60 percent of the funding mobilised to respond to crises in 2009 and over 50 percent of OECD/DAC humanitarian funding allocations (source: UN OCHA/FTS) A preliminary HRI mission to assess the response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake also took place but is not included in the statistical calculations for the index.

Reports for each of the crises studied help highlight the strengths and areas for improvement in donor performance in the response to different contexts, and can inform the international community of where and how overall response can be improved. Recurrent in this year’s report are the themes of politicisation of aid and the need for greater protection of civilians. In 10 out of the 14 crisis analyzed this year, government and military interests have often taken priority over humanitarian needs such as protection, especially for women and children.

The map below shows the crises studied as part of the Humanitarian Response Index 2010